The Beginning of the End
by djp111
Summary: A novelization of Atlus' excellent Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor. Law/Messiah path, MC/Yuzu.
1. Before the End

Disclaimer: I don't own Shin Megami Tensei.

A few notes:

1. I named the MC Hiroki 'Hiro' Takeda.

2. This story follows the Law/Messiah/Amane path.

**Prologue: The Messenger of God**

_"One born of human flesh..."_

_The blue-haired boy's eyes snapped open, and he recoiled at the sight before him. A man - at least, he thought it was a man - in a blue cloak was standing right in front of him, speaking in a robotic voice. He could feel something...unnatural, like a wave of energy or a particularly powerful aura, coming from the man, but could think of absolutely no explanation to that. 'What...am I looking at a human, or...?'_

_"Man is now a race of some power..."_

_"Wha-what?" The boy stammered. "What in the hell - " But the figure before him continued to talk as though he could not hear him, his flat voice drowning out the boy's panicked stuttering._

_"You, Son of Man, must face the power you hold."_

_The boy nearly laughed with disbelief. "Wait, what? What powers? What - "_

_"And you must face your destiny as well..."_

_"Destiny? Uh, what? I don't understand a single - "_

_"Though your days be peaceful, the fated time draws near."_

_"Wait, fated time? What are you talking about? Wh-is something going to happen?"_

_"I am your judgment..."_

_Now the boy was starting to get angry. "Judgment? Hey, wait a second! What did I do? And - and let me finish, dammit!"_

_The cloaked and hooded figure continued to ignore him. "I sundered the tongue of your fathers and shattered their arrogant power."_

_"Hey, what - " But the man before him raised his hand as to silence him, and the boy suddenly found that, even as he tried to scream, not a sound came from his mouth. Before he could register what had just happened to him, the man continued his speech._

_"So long as the Lord does not live in you, all living beings hold darkness in their hearts. If you truly wish to be yourself, then rise and fight the darkness within...the demon inside." The man paused and watched in mild amusement as the teenage boy before him pinched himself several times, no doubt trying to snap himself out of this dream, and yelping in pain - or, rather, attempting to yelp in pain, but producing no sound - every time. "If you have the will to challenge your destiny of battle, Son of Man, state your name..."_

_The teenager suddenly found his voice again, but though his mind was filled with questions and a part of him wanted to scream at the man before him just a few moments ago, all those things were wiped from his head and only a desire to answer __**his **__question was left. His mouth opened without a command from his brain, and when he spoke, he realized his own voice was emotionless and mechanical, just like the man's._

_"...My name is Hiroki Takeda. My friends call me Hiro..."_

_As if confirming something, the figure nodded, then suddenly turned and walked away without another word. "Hey! What - where are you going?" At Hiro's shout, he paused in his path._

_"As He proclaimed...this world, created in seven days, shall be destroyed by the sounding of seven trumpets..."_

_"Wait, what?" Hiro was rendered temporarily speechless. "Wh - God is going to destroy the world is seven days? Wait, wait, wait, there's got to be - "_

_The man ignored his shouts and continued to walk into the darkness. "You who have a will," he whispered, "Fear the numbers your eyes shall see. Fear the time left..."_

_"He - hey! Wait! I'm not done! At least tell me who you are!" Hiroki shouted after the man._

_"...I am known as the Messenger of the Great One Above Us All."_

_"The Messenger of the 'Great One Above Us All'?...that must be...! Oi, wait! I'm not done!" Hiro tried to pusue the mysterious 'Messenger of God' as he vanished into the darkness, but tripped over something and fell into the bottomless abyss, falling forever..._

Hiroki 'Hiro' Takeda fell out of his bed with a crash, hitting his head against the wall as well.

"Agh! Damn it! What the hell?..."

As he struggled to throw his blanket off and push himself back on his feet, he threw a glance at the clock.

2:13 AM.

'Ugh, damn it...' his thoughts wandered over to that dream with the man in a blue cloak. 'Huh...something about a destiny of battle and God destroying the world...heh,' As he thought about it further, Hiro chuckled to himself. 'Nah, I was just dreaming,' he reasoned, 'I just had too much pizza and Coke last night, that's all.'

Without another word, he returned to his bed and was asleep in a few minutes.

**Chapter I: An End to the Ordinary**

_Shibuya 901, 15:30, August 18th 2012_

Hiro thought of how best to spend the last few weeks of his summer vacation. "I could be playing _Black Ops_ or hanging out with Yuzu," he muttered to himself, "But no...Naoya had to call me to meet him here. What's so important that he had to call me, anyway?..."

He didn't quite hate his cousin - it was just that they'd only seen each other a few times since Naoya moved out last year, and they'd grown less close since then. Hiro remembered the disappointment he felt when Naoya forgot to send him a present for his seventeenth birthday in February or even to show up at his party, the first time that had ever happened. 'I mean sure, he's busy and all with his computers and I know he has a life, but still...' Hiro mulled over his thoughts, 'He could've at least sent me a card or something. I mean, we're almost like brothers, and I've _never_ forgotten his birthday before - '

"Hey, Hiro! Over here!" Hiro turned off his phones and turned, a smile forming on his face. A boy with a laptop was running up to him, grinning. His best friend was here - just the person to make his day better.

"Hey, Atsuro! Long time no see, man!"

"Yo, how's it going?" Atsuro stopped in front of Hiro and caught his breath. "Real nice of Naoya to make us meet him outside on a hot day like this, isn't it?" The two friends laughed, and Atsuro continued, "So, how's your summer been? We usually meet at school, so it feels like it's been forever. Is everything good?"

"Yeah, everything's good."

"Ah, there's the Hiro I know!" Atsuro's grin became bigger, and he patted his friend on the shoulder. "Young guys like us need to be full of energy! Still, I couldn't think of anything to do, so I just spent the day on my laptop." The two laughed again. Hiro had never seen his friend without that laptop since their first year at high school, and he secretly wondered if he'd suffer from withdrawal if he ever lost it. "This is great timing, though. I just ran into this problem with my coding. It has me completely stumped, so I was just about to ask Naoya for help..."

"Oh, there you guys are! I've been looking for you!"

The two friends turned to their left to find a red-headed girl in pink running towards them. "Hey, here comes Yoohoo!"

The girl stopped in front of them, the smile on her face replaced by a look of annoyance. "Don't call me 'Yoohoo'! My name is Yuzu! Sheesh, will you stop calling me that stupid nickname? Even boys at school call me Yoohoo, and it's your fault!"

Atsuro, however, laughed harder. "Hehe, it's not that bad, is it? It's just a friendly nickname! And it's not just our class. Some of the teachers actually think your name is Yoohoo."

Hiro scratched his head, he wondered why other people actually thought 'Yoohoo' was her real name - it sounded like a cartoon character, and it definitely wasn't a name most people would give to their kids. He could understand why little kids and his less mature classmates would think that, sure, but grown adults like teachers? He almost snorted with laughter at the thought. Yuzu, however, was not amused in the slightest.

"That's because people like you keep calling me that!"

"Haha, it's working!"

"Oh, hey," Hiro suddenly remembered why he'd been waiting out in the heat for half an hour. "Where's Naoya?"

Yuzu was the first to turn and answer him. "Huh?...oh, that's right! I ran into Naoya a moment ago, and he asked me to give these to Atsuro and you. He said that something's come up and he won't be able to make it."

Hiro personally felt disappointed at missing a chance to meet his cousin for the first time in ages - that, and he was more than a little ticked off that he'd been waiting out in the heat for over half an hour only to be stood up. It seemed that Atsuro shared his sentiments. "Aww, what's up with that? Naoya stood us up! Wait," he paused, "What did he want you to give us?"

Yuzu opened her bag. "Here, take them. They were a pain to carry around in my bag, too."

Hiro looked into the bag and saw three consoles - one white, one blue and one pink. "They're game systems," he said flatly.

"Aren't these those 'Communication Player' things? I've seen commercials for them before. They're like, 'Play with people around the world'!"

Atsuro took the blue Communication Player and added himself to the conversation. "Oh, you know about them, Yoohoo? That's exactly what these are. The name 'Communication Player' is a real mouthful, so people just call them COMPs. They have email and a web browser, so they're more like cellphones than game systems."

"Huh...is that so?" Yuzu paused and added, "Naoya said 'You'll all need these. Don't let go of them.'"

"Eh?...'You'll all need'...? Well, there are three of them...still, why would we need these? I mean, I've got a COMP back at my own..." Atsuro started his up, and his voice and expression changed to ones of surprise. "Huh? What the..." he stared at the screen in wonder. "I've never seen this menu. Did he homebrew this?..."

Yuzu and Hiro were both surprised. "What? Do you mean he made this himself? Is that even possible?"

"Huh?" The surprise wore off Atsuro's face, and he chuckled. "Don't you know, Yoohoo? Naoya's famous among us programmers. He's a genius! Something like this would be no problem for him."

"Huh...I had no idea. Is he really that good?"

Atsuro didn't seem to hear her, and was instead fiddling around with the COMP. "Hmm...I can't open this folder. Looks like it's protected..."

"Protected?...you mean, it's set so other people can't mess with it? We can't look inside, then."

Hiro shrugged and smiled at his tech-savvy friend. "Atsuro can crack it."

"Heh heh, that's right! Good thing I brought my laptop along..." The boy connected the COMPs to his laptop and began typing furiously.

Unlike the two, Yuzu quickly showed her disapproval of the idea. "...huh? H-Hey, Atsuro! What're you doing?"

"Heh heh...what does it look like? I'm gonna crack this folder wide open."

"You're hacking it?...Hey, Naoya's gonna be angry if you do that?"

"It's not a big deal," Hiro reassured her, "Remember that one email he sent me last year? That was protected too, and he actually congratulated me for cracking it! Said it was a test or something!"

Yuzu still wasn't sure. "Huuuuh? Are you sure about this?"

Atsuro broke into their conversation without so much as looking away from his screen. "You don't get it, Yoohoo! Naoya's my teacher. If he took the time to call me up and give it to me...that means he wants me to break his protection scheme! It's like a friendly greeting!"

"That doesn't make any sense!" Atsuro's explanation only raised more questions for Yuzu. "Why can't he say 'hello' like a normal person?"

Atsuro ignored her and typed even faster. "Let's see here...what's his encryption scheme this time?" As he typed furiously, he began to laugh for some reason. "Heh heh heh! This is intense!"

"No! Only someone like you would find this exciting, Atsuro!" Though he would never say it to his face, Hiro shared Yuzu's sentiments - he had absolutely no idea how cracking a game system could be fun.

A beeping sound came from the COMPs, and Atsuro stopped typing. "Hrrrrmmmmm...ah, there we go! Here, you can check your emails for now. Here, these are yours."

Hiro took the white COMP and opened his email folder. There was already one email there, from one 'Observer'. "Huh?..."

_From: The Observer_

_Subject: Laplace Mail_

_Good morning._

_Here is today's NEWS._

_1. At around 16:00, a man will be killed in a Shibuya-ku Aoyama apartment. The wounds on the corpse are consistent with an attack by a large carnivorous beast._

_2. A large explosion will occur in Minato-ku Aoyama at 19:00. The cause is unknown._

_3. At 21:00, a blackout will affect the entire Tokyo metropolitan area._

_Have a nice day._

"At around 16:00, a man in Shibuya-ku will be...killed?" Yuzu was clearly frightened at the news. "He'll be attacked by some carnivorous beast...? What kind of news is this? That's so creepy."

Hiro privately admitted that he'd be lying if he said he wasn't in the least bit creeped out by the email. "Yeah, that is creepy..."

"I know, right? The way it's written so off-handedly just makes it even creepier..."

"It also said there'll be a blackout in Tokyo today..." Atsuro sounded worried himself. "What is this? It says it's today's news...but none of this has happened today. Why would Naoya put a lock on this...? Ooh," his eyes brightened, "Maybe it's code for something! Aoyama, Aoyama...hmm..." he thought to himself for a few moments. "Naoya's place is near there, but is that important?..."

"That's enough!" Yuzu snapped, "This is way too creepy! I bet Naoya knew you would tinker with the COMPs and played a trick on us."

"I don't know...he's amazingly smart, so I think he must have meant for this to happen. Hmm...I can't figure it out from just this. I'll try the rest of these files, too." He suddenly closed his laptop and pushed himself back onto his feet. "I'm gonna go find somewhere I can think. Go kill some time." As he turned away and began to leave, he said over his shoulder, "Oh, you can take the COMPs! Some of their functions still work, so you might as well try them out. See ya later, okay?"

"I bet it's all just a prank," Yuzu tried to reassure herself, "Atsuro always acts like such a kid with stuff like this! Um..." She turned to Hiro, who had been rereading the email. "What should we do, Hiro? Why don't we wander around until Atsuro's done?"

As the two left the 901, she asked Hiro, "Well...what should we do? We can go kill some time in Shibuya, or go somewhere else. I'm okay either way, Hiro!"

_Kannagi-cho, 16:00, August 18th 2012_

"Now...what should we do? Wanna go watch a movie, or do some karaoke? Hmm..." Yuzu paused and reminded herself that Atsuro was still working on the COMPs. "Atsuro might call us, so we should go somewhere with cellphone reception..."

"Yeah, a movie sounds - " Hiro stopped talking. Standing on the other side of the road was a suspicious group wearing bizarre orange outfits, their faces hidden under hoods and veils. A man who appeared to be their leader was making a speech from a podium.

"And lo, the smiting from God against the Tower of Babel returns!"

"Oh, man..." Yuzu could not suppress a snort of derisive laughter. "What's with that bunch of weirdos?"

"Now, along with our Shomonkai, let us bring the world together. With the power of the Internet, the world will be as one once more..."

"The 'power of the Internet', huh?" She scoffed at the man's words. "Gimme me a break...are you interested in this, Hiro?"

Hiro shook his head and kept walking. "Not in the least,"

"Yeah, I wouldn't think so. Their clothes are weird, too." She paused. "Well, even I think it's great how the Internet lets you connect with the rest of the world. But all this stuff about gods and bringing the world together...I don't know. Ugh! Why are we even talking about this?" She shook her head and laughed again. "Let's go somewhere else, Hiro!"

"I hear you. A movie sounds good..."

Behind them, the odd man continued his sermon. "Tonight and for the next three days, fellow members who believe in the power of the Internet will gather in Tokyo. All are welcome to take part. Believe in His Majesty and prepare for the ordeal. That is when we shall..."

_Omotesando, 16:30, August 18th 2012_

"The stores around here are really fashionable. They're all, like so mature, y'know?" Yuzu was having fun looking at the displays in the windows, while Hiro was barely listening to her and privately wanted to head back to Kannagi-cho and listen to the Shomonkai preacher - anything as long as it meant getting out of here, where he was bored out of his skull. "I used to go to Harajuku all the time, but I always wanted to fit in in Omotesando. Hey," She turned to face Hiro, "Hey, do you think I stick out like a sore thumb here?"

Hiro looked at her, his thoughts of heading back to Kannagi-cho dispelled at once. There was no way she didn't fit in - she was pretty, always up with the latest trend, and in any case there was no way he was going to say something mean to the girl who got him his headphones five years ago and who he'd known since they were kids. He smiled at that last memory. "No, you fit right in."

"No way, really? Aww, thanks!" Yuzu blushed and smiled at her childhood friend. Hiro privately wanted to take a picture of that on his cell, but resisted the urge - 'She'd probably get weirded out over that,' he thought to himself.

"Don't you think that Harajuku and Omotesando have different images? Omotesando feels more like Aoyama's style than Harajuku's..." She paused, and the smile Hiro loved disappeared from her face. "Speaking of Aoyama...hey, Hiro...what time is it right now?"

Hiro took a quick look at his watch. "It's 16:30..." He remembered that email, and when he cast a glance at Yuzu, he saw that she remembered it as well.

"16:30, ugh...I was just thinking about that email in the COMP...You know, the one about someone being attacked by a carnivorous beast...it said the attack happened in the Aoyama area, right? It's around the right time, too..."

Hiro inhaled sharply. "I know...and Naoya lives there - "

He was cut off by the sound of several police sirens blaring and two police cars speeding down the street. "Those police cars..." Yuzu whispered, "They're headed towards Aoyama...ah, ahaha!" She forced a laugh, "There's no way that it could be true, right?"

A long, uncomfortable silence followed. "Hey...Naoya's apartment is in Aoyama, right? Shouldn't we...go check it out?"

Hiro bit his lip, turned and quickened his pace. "Let's go, then." Inside, he was praying to God that the victim in his email wasn't his cousin.

"Ye-yeah..." Yuzu quickened her own pace to catch up with Hiro. "I'm a little scared...but, he should be okay. Let's go!"

_Aoyama, 16:41, August 18th 2012_

By the time the two reached Aoyama, the police had already roped off the scene and a crowd of onlookers had gathered. ''Scuse me, 'scuse - hey!" Hiro attempted to push past the crowd, but was pushed back out by a burly man who stank of cigarettes. "Damn it..."

"Naoya?..." Hiro whirled around at that name, and saw that Yuzu was right - the two were looking at none other than his gray-haired cousin, Naoya Takeda. He noticed that the younger teenagers were staring at him in surprise, and turned to Hiro.

"...I'm surprised to see you here, Hiroki. What are you doing here?"

"Wha - " Hiro breathed a sigh of relief and ran over to hug his cousin. "We were so worried!...I'm glad you're safe, man!"

"Th-That's right! We thought something might have happened to you, Naoya!"

Naoya's voice was still cool and expressionless. "...Oh, you mean the incident in the building."

Hiro broke away from his cousin and glared at him, and both he and Yuzu nearly shouted at the same time. "Of course that's what we mean!" The two paused to look at each other and blushed slightly before Yuzu continued, "What's going on, anyway? That weird email you made us read made us all jumpy!"

"I see...you're right...sorry about that. I didn't mean to frighten you. The person who was eaten was a student, like yourselves. He lived next door to me..."

Both teenagers were temporarily stunned. "He was eaten?...no way!" Yuzu had regained her voice first, "Is what that email said really true? But, we got the email before the incident happened, so..." She paused and blinked in confusion, before turning to her friend. "Hiro, what does this all mean?"

Hiro himself had been mulling over the information in his head, and as he did he unconsciously stepped away from Naoya. "You..." he looked suspiciously at his older cousin, he really didn't want to confirm what he was thinking - but, as he did live next door to the victim and sent the email in the first place, it was only logical to suspect him of committing the murder. "The email was a warning, wasn't it?..."

A slight sneer was forming on Naoya's handsome face. "...I see. You're saying that I sent the email, then I carried out the murder...that does seem like a logical explanation. But, no, that's not what happened." Hiro never had a chance to ask 'Then what the hell did?', as Naoya continued talking. "I understand why the two of you came here, Hiroki...but, our meeting here is an accident. We shouldn't be talking like this. Hurry and find Atsuro immediately. It's going to begin soon..."

Yuzu was even more confused now. "Begin?...what are you talking about?"

Naoya looked away, and Hiro instantly knew he had no intention of answering any more questions. "...There isn't much time left. Listen carefully to me, both of you. Do not turn away from what is about to happen now. Do not be afraid to stand up against it. That is when the door of truth will open...overcome your fate."

"Oh!...w-wait a second!" Naoya did not seem to hear Yuzu's shout, and simply walked away without another word. "...He's gone. Something...didn't seem right with him, huh? I wonder what's wrong."

Hiro was about to answer when his cell rang. He looked and saw that the caller ID was 'Atsuro'.

"Hello?"

"Yo! I figured out how to crack the encryption on those COMPs. I need yours so I can unlock them. Meet me in front of the Electric Museum in Shibuya!" Before Hiro could manage so much as an 'Okay' or 'Bye', Atsuro hung up.

Hiro sighed and explained what happened to Yuzu. "Atsuro's found a way to crack the COMPs. Looks like he'll need ours to do it, though."

"Um...so why don't we meet up with Atsuro? I'm all confused from everything that's happened so suddenly...maybe Atsuro's figured something out on his end!"

_Shibuya Electric Museum, 17:20, August 18th 2012_

"Yo, what took you guys so long? How far away did you go when you were killing time?"

Hiro pointed in the direction he had come from. "We went to Naoya's place..."

"Huh? You guys went to see Naoya?"

"Oh, yeah. Well..." While Yuzu explained what happened at Aoyama, added that the email's prediction came true and mentioned Naoya's last words, Hiro sat down on the pavement and began to think. 'Naoya said he didn't carry out the murder, but all the evidence points to him and he didn't actually give us a single reason to think he was innocent...and what does he mean by something 'about to begin'?' He thought. 'Does this have anything to do with that dream I had?...nah,' he laughed on the inside, 'That sort of thing only happens in manga...'

"Wait, what? Are you saying the email actually came true?" Atsuro couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Hmm...anyway, if you ran into Naoya, why didn't you call me? I had some stuff to ask him."

"Sorry. So much was going on that we forgot to tell you."

Atsuro looked crestfallen. "Oh, well. That's okay. Bringing it up now isn't going to change anything." He sighed. "So, what's going on? Is what was written in the email actually coming true?...C'mon. There's no way an email can predict the future." He laughed at the absurdity of the scenario, "Are you sure you didn't just fall for one of Naoya's pranks?"

Hiro looked up at Atsuro. "C'mon, would he really do _that_?"

"Well, when you put it that way...Naoya's human, too. He must have a sense of humor."

Yuzu snapped, "But someone did get killed! The police were there! Ugh..." She took a deep breath to calm herself. "I can't believe they'd be part of his joke!"

"Hmm...if Naoya was telling the truth, that email wasn't a warning, right? Unless someone really did predict the future, it's probably just a coincidence."

Hiro pushed himself back onto his feet and pointed out, "Hey, there's more in the email."

"What do you mean?...Oh yeah, it mentioned an explosion and a blackout, too. If it really was predicting the future...it would be pretty odd if those don't happen."

"They haven't happened yet," Hiro pointed out, "The explosion's scheduled for 19:00 and the blackout's scheduled for 21:00."

Atsuro was still in doubt. "Still, they seem pretty unlikely."

"What?...but..." Yuzu was biting her lip.

Atsuro laughed. "Who cares, anyway? Once I crack this COMP and look inside, it'll all make sense."

Yuzu visibly relaxed. "Hm...I'm still not convinced, but tell us what you've figured out for now. You did figure something out, right, Atsuro?"

"Yeah, well...I was completely fooled. I think Naoya knew I'd try to get inside one myself. It seems that these three COMPs are always monitoring each other, so I can't crack one alone." Atsuro's eyes were shining as he continued to explain. "See, the COMPs are constantly transmitting certain signals to each other. Without that input, several parameters are set in such a way that makes it impossible - "

Yuzu interrupted him. "Argh, my head...enough with the explanation, just hurry up and do it!"

"Man, you never change...anyway, I'm gonna unlock the systems, okay? Turn your COMPs on, you guys!"

While Atsuro worked on the COMPs, Hiro looked up and saw someone who looked like Naoya. The street was empty and he seemed to stand out, and as Hiro looked closer he saw that his face was cold and expressionless.

"Hey, Nao - "

He was cut off by Atsuro's proud declaration of triumph. "Okay, done! I'm restarting the COMPs!"

_Communication Player_

_Decryption confirmed. Booting program._

Hiro tried to keep track of all the codes running on the screen, but soon found it impossible.

_...Condition green. DEMON SUMMONING PROGRAM ready to boot. Booting DEMON SUMMONING PROGRAM..._

_No one is righteous, not one._

_Peaceful days are over__

_Let's Survive_

The COMPs suddenly began to glow, and before any of the three could react, monsters - a tiny fairy, a floating cat with a straw hat and a wolf-man with a club - appeared before them in three bursts of energy.

"Wh-Whoa! Monsters came out of the COMPs!"

"Ahhh! Wh-What is this?"

The red-haired fairy looked around and took a deep breath. "Ahh! I thought I was going to suffocate in there!...so this is the human world? Hmm. Then these humans must be the ones who summoned me." She turned to face Yuzu, a malicious glint in her eyes. "We will fight, then! If I win, I will have my freedom! Let's go!" It began to fly towards Yuzu, laughing. "Hehehe! Get ready! I'm not gonna let you guys go! You have to die so I can go free! Hehehe!"

Yuzu was backing away as quickly as she could, and one look at her face told Hiro that she was panicking. "Ahh! Don't come any closer!" As the fairy prepared to dive-bomb her, she suddenly swung at it with her bag, almost knocking it out of the air.

"Helllppp!...Hiro!...Atsuro!"

"Hold on, Yuzu!"

"Yuzu...damn it! We're coming!"

The fairy reeled and tried to regain her balance. "Wow, you're pretty tough...for a human, anyway!"

Another voice pulled Hiro's eyes away from Yuzu and towards Atsuro. "Gyaarr! Humans are tasty demon food!"

"Whoa! What are you?"

Atsuro barely had time to drop into a fighting stance when the catlike monster slammed into him, nearly knocking him to the ground, before he managed to grab it and throw it to the side. "Gyaaaarh! Why do the human's attacks hurt! Nobody said anything about this…"

Atsuro looked quite surprised himself.

"Wh-What the! That should've hurt me way more than it did!"

"This is weird." The catlike monster complained, "Humans are supposed to be soft and chewy! Not hard!"

"FIGHT ME, HUMANS! ME…WIN!"

"Wait, what?" Hiro turned in the direction of that roar and saw the wolfman charging towards him, its club held overhead. 'Damn it,' he thought, 'I've wasted so much time watching the others fight that I totally forgot about my own monster to deal with - '

"Be careful, Hiro! You've got to get them before they get you! You have to fight!"

"I know - "

Hiro dropped his COMP, hopped to the side and avoided the wolfman's brutal swing, then brought up his arms to defend himself and tried to hold his ground. The monster, however, dropped his weapon and rushed at him, claws out and fangs bared, and though he thought he was ready for it the blow still knocked him to the ground - no amount of time and training could have prepared him for a head-on collision with something like a small car. The wolfman was now only inches from his face, snapping its jaws and trying to bite his face off, while its sharp claws cut into his arms.

"Agh! You mangy mutt - get off of me, get the hell off of me!"

He struggled to keep the beast away from his face, but it was in vain - the monster was simply stronger than him. In desperation, Hiro brought his leg upwards and kicked the wolfman in the groin, causing it to howl with pain and let go of him. Without hesitation, he pushed himself upwards and headbutted the beast in the chest, forcing it off of him and giving him enough time to get back on his feet.

"GRYAAAH! YOU STRONG! THIS…FUN! FIGHT SOME MORE!" Hiro didn't know it was possible for anyone to sound so excited after taking a kick to the crotch or a headbutt, but put that thought aside as the demon picked up its club and prepared to attack him again.

"Th-The attack worked! Our attacks work on these guys!...Is it because of the COMPs?" Hiro didn't bother to see what Atsuro was doing, instead focusing on the wolfman about to pounce on him. As soon as the monster lunged and attempted to smash his head open with the club, Hiro ducked to the side, grabbed an empty beer bottle and swung it into the side of the demon's head. While it dropped its club and howled with pain, he pressed the attack and brought the bottle up into its jaw, knocking it flat on its back. Before he could prepare another attack however, the monster raised its hands in surrender and began to speak as calmly as it could, ignoring the blood leaking from a cut on its head and mouth.

"ME LOSE. IF ME DEFEATED BY ONE WHO SUMMONS ME, BECOME MASTER. THIS CALLED CONTRACT…ONLY HEARD OF THEM…"

"Wait, what? Does this mean you're on my side now?" Hiro was amazed, and nearly dropped his weapon out of surprise.

"ME KOBOLD, DEMON OF WAR. TO MEET YOU, NICE!" It suddenly disappeared, leaving the teenager standing there dumbfounded.

"…Yes! We can win, you guys! We can't die here!" Atsuro shouted. Hiro turned and began to run to his friend's side, but soon found that he'd be too late to help with anything - Atsuro already had his opponent in a headlock, and it was attempting to choke out its surrender to him.

"Gyahh! I'm surprised I could actually be defeated! Gahh…I've heard that if I lose, I become your servant. Oh well…I'm the monster, Kabuso. Pleased to meet you…" the Kabuso disappeared, leaving Atsuro just as surprised and confused as Hiro was a few moments ago.

"Okay, that's two out of three," Hiro breathed as he helped Atsuro back to his feet, "Now let's help Yuzu - "

But, once again, he saw that his friends were quite capable of handling themselves - Yuzu had just kicked the fairy she was fighting into a trashcan, and was preparing to strike it with her bag again when it raised its hands and gave up. "…Ugh! I can't believe I lost…to a human! But I'll abide by the contract. I HAVE to lend you my powers." it weakly flew up and glared daggers at Yuzu, who returned the favor. "I'm the fairy, Pixie. Don't you DARE waste me!"

"I...I'm still alive..." Yuzu suddenly collapsed to her knees, and Hiro found the need to lean against a nearby guardrail to stay on his feet. "We're all still alive! Aaaaah, that was so scary!" She turned to Atsuro, who was also on the ground, breathing heavily. "What's going on? What was that? Atsuro, what did you do?"

"I don't know, either! I just undid the encryption! The program activated itself!"

"Then…The COMP is what made this happen just now? That doesn't make any sense! That's just impossible!" She picked up the pink COMP lying on the ground, and at her words Hiro's eyes wandered over to his own white COMP.

"Let's go to the police! We can't hold onto something this dangerous!"

Hiro picked up his own COMP, and much to his amazement it wasn't broken - in fact, it seemed to be functioning perfectly. 'No way I'm going to hang on to this,' he thought, 'It's caused us all enough trouble already, and if more demons come out...' He inhaled and said, "That's a good idea."

"I know, right?...c'mon, Atsuro! Let's go!"

"H-hey, wait a minute! Calm down for a second!" Atsuro had gotten back to his feet as well, and he alone seemed reluctant to let go of the COMP.

Yuzu was stunned at Atsuro's response. "How can anyone be calm after what just happened?"

"We still don't understand anything yet! Shouldn't we take a close look at this?"

"Huh? What are you saying? What'll we do if demons come out of these things again?" The girl sounded hysterical now, and Hiro walked over to calm her.

"Look, Yuzu, I - "

Atsuro cut him off. "Will you settle down a little? I know why you're freaking out! I was there too, you know? But even after what just happened, is it right to throw everything out immediately?" He took a deep breath and paused for a second, thinking of the implications of losing the COMPs. "We don't even know if that's the safest thing to do at this point."

Hiro was about to ask Yuzu what she thought of that, but then remembered Naoya's words from earlier.

_'You'll all need these. Don't let go of them.'_

'Alright, calm down,' Hiro told himself, 'We won't get anywhere if we panic. Maybe Atsuro's right, and Naoya _did_ say we'd need these things'. He took a deep breath and tried to speak as calmly as he could, "Naoya said to keep them."

Yuzu groaned. "Ugh...he did say we would need them..."

Atsuro took a deep breath to calm himself. "I'm going to take a deeper look into these COMPs, okay?"

"Y-Yeah, okay. But if something comes out, we're making a run for it! I've had it with this!"

Without another word, Atsuro connected the COMP to his laptop and began to examine the files inside.

_Shibuya Electric Museum, 17:57, August 18th 2012_

After an entire ten minutes, Atsuro finally said something, and both Hiro and Yuzu perked up. "Ah…I get it. So that's why…"

"What, did you figure something out?" Yuzu asked.

"Yeah. First, this process is named the Demon Summoning Program."

When Yuzu spoke again, her voice was at a much higher pitch than usual. "Demon? You mean, like…from books and myths and all that stuff?"

"How should I know? I can't wrap my head around how a computer can summon them…"

Hiro himself was getting frustrated. "Well, they showed up!"

"Yeah...we really saw them, so we have to believe what happened...anyway," Atsuro relaxed a little, "The other function I found in this COMP is named the 'Harmonizer'."

"So..." Hiro scratched his head, "...It harmonizes?"

The group laughed, even Hiro, and he felt the tension in the air defuse just a little.

"I suppose so. The word 'harmonize' means to match, or adjust. It's similar to the summoning program, and I have no idea what principles are behind it. But it seems to match some wavelength so that our attacks work on demons. And, likewise, it attunes their attacks to lessen the damage we take from them."

Yuzu wiped some of the sweat off her brow and sighed. "I'm totally lost… I don't get any of this! What is Naoya trying to do? Summoning demons, protecting us from them… What does he want us to do?"

Hiro thought about that. He had no clear answer to her question, and so he decided to just throw things out there. "Maybe we fight demons?"

Yuzu was now clearly frustrated. "But why? Are we supposed to bring about world peace or something?"

"I dunno, I'm just throwing things out there..."

Atsuro suddenly perked up. "Huh…? Wait a sec… That's it!"

"What? Don't tell me it's really for world peace…"

"No, it's not that. Do you guys remember that email?"

"The one with those predictions? Y-Yeah…"

"I thought about how the COMP's functions would work in conjunction with it…take this, for example…the death in Aoyama was blamed on an animal attack, right?"

Hiro and Yuzu both paled at the memory. "Huh…? Yeah…"

"What if it wasn't an animal…but a demon, like the ones that appeared earlier?"

Hiro inhaled sharply, and Yuzu hissed, "…! Wh-What are you saying! If you're trying to scare us, knock it off!"

"I'm not trying to scare you." Atsuro tried to reassure the two, "I want to sort this thing out." He took another deep breath before speaking. "Okay, to start out…If the email delivered to our COMPs really did predict that…Then we would have known when and where the attack was due to occur before it happened. So, if we wanted to, we could've been there at that moment. In addition, the COMPs are modified to summon demons and fight against them. So, what conclusions can we draw from this?"

Hiro thought about that for a second. "Hmm...maybe we could prevent them?"

"Yeah…That's what I think, too."

Yuzu was clearly confused again. "Huh…!"

"There's been a lot of weird stuff in the city recently. The internet's full of rumors. There have always been strange things happening, but there have been a lot of them lately. What if they were all ignored by the public…but they were actually caused by demons? And what if we can use these COMPs to fight those demons?"

Yuzu gasped. "Then…are you saying these COMPs were made to fight the demons who are doing all this?"

Atsuro nodded approvingly. "Yeah…that is, if demons are really the cause of these things."

"I'm so not doing that! Why don't we just give these back to Naoya or somebody else?"

"Yeah, I agree," Hiro suddenly spoke up, "We could've all died in that last fight. I mean...if more demons come out, or if stronger ones show up, what are our chances of surviving? Besides," he added, "We don't even know what this thing can do, or if it's booby-trapped to blow up later or something. How about we just give it to someone who knows what they're doing?"

"See? You know we're right, Atsuro!"

"Then...we're really going to get rid of the COMPs? Is that the best thing to do?" Atsuro sighed, "I mean, I don't want to have to fight monsters like that again, either...but...if we get attacked by demons like the other victims, I can't give this COMP up...without them, we're just normal people. We don't stand a chance against demons!"

Atsuro's words made Hiro reconsider. "Well, when you put it that way..."

Yuzu groaned. "If...if you're right, Atsuro, and this weird stuff is being caused by demons...and even if these COMPs were made to fight those demons...then, why us? The police should be the ones dealing with this stuff!"

"We can give them to the police, but if we do, we'll never get them back. That said, do you think we can really protect ourselves without them?"

"I'm sick of all this...why is this happening...?"

Hiro didn't hear them. He was glancing around the street, looking at the floating numbers above people's heads. Theirs read '1', but everyone around them seemed to have '7' floating over their heads.

"…? What's wrong, Hiro? Why are you staring above my head? Is something there?"

"…There's a number there. Most people have a seven over their heads, but we've only got a one."

Yuzu was confused again. "A number over our heads? What are you talking about?"

Atsuro quickly looked around, then stared at Hiro too. "I don't see anything, but you look serious…what's going on? Man…is that because of the COMP, too? We know so little about all this…I feel like my head's about to blow up!"

"Hey, why don't we go back to Naoya's place, after all?" Yuzu suddenly spoke up. "All this about the COMP, the email, and everything else…we really need him to tell us."

Hiro nodded. "I agree."

Atsuro nodded as well and pocketed his COMP. "Yeah…I need to talk to Naoya, too. Let's go to Aoyama, Hiro!"

_Aoyama, 18:31, August 18th 2012_

Back at the Aoyama residential area, the three found that the police were still investigating and that their barriers were still up.

Atsuro groaned. "Man, we'll never get near Naoya's room like this..."

Yuzu looked to the right and noticed something. "Hey! Over there!" She pointed towards a full mailbox.

"Hmm…Isn't that Naoya's mailbox?" Atsuro walked over to the mailbox and quickly checked it over. At once, Hiro knew why they hadn't seen each other for so long.

"We were lucky to see him."

"I suppose so. It looks like he hasn't been to his apartment for quite a while…"

Suddenly, all three of their COMPs' email alerts went off. Without another word, Hiro fumbled for his COMP and began reading.

_From: NAOYA_

_Subject: Congratulations_

_It seems you've used the COMP. Well done. I figured that the general confusion would be dying down by now._

_I gave you three the COMPs because you will need the powers of the demons. If you want to survive, you'll have to learn how to use them._

_I don't have much time right now. Head to Aoyama Cemetery. You'll meet a person who will affect your future activities there._

Hiro checked the other folders, and saw another email from a 'DS Admin'.

_From: DS Admin_

_Subject: READ ME_

_Congratulations! You have earned the qualifications to become a demon tamer._

_You can now summon a demon at any time as an ally and command it._

_Please note that 'contracting' with the demons only occurs during the initial booting of this program. Defeating demons summoned via other COMPs does not apply, either._

_Also, a tutorial function has been added to assist you in battle. Please make use of it._

_Have a safe and pleasant experience in your new life as a demon tamer._

"What…who's writing these?" Yuzu asked, "Can he hear what we're saying or something? This is crazy!"

"Haha…Naoya's insight is his greatest strength." Atsuro chuckled, "He's a genius when it comes to knowing what people are going to do next. Anyway…did you guys read the other email?"

"Yeah. Allying with demons, huh?..." Hiro wasn't too comfortable with the idea of being a 'demon tamer' and risking his life to enslave mythical monsters like Pixie, Kabuso and Kobold.

"Yeah, I wanted to point that out. Remember what those demons said during the battle? About submitting to us, contracts, lending their power…sounds familiar?"

Yuzu shook her head and groaned. "Wait a sec! Gah…I can't keep up with all this! It's all so unreal…! Um, so, basically… The demons we fought can now be summoned from the COMPs? And they'll be our allies?"

"Yeah, but I can't say for sure until we actually try it out…after we got that email, something called 'Teams' got added to the COMP menu. Maybe this is why Naoya entrusted us with these COMPs."

"Geez!" Yuzu snapped, "If that's what he wanted all along, he could have just told us!"

"Haha, yeah, I think so too. Sometimes he's so smart I can't understand him…in any case, the email from Naoya…it said to go to Aoyama Cemetery, right? It mentioned someone 'who will influence our actions,' but…who could that be?"

Yuzu quieted and looked worried. "Sounds like someone we're destined to meet...do you think it'll be human?"

"Who knows…? Considering all that's happened, anyone would be suspicious…"

Hiro quickly reread the email and breathed a small sigh of relief. "It did say 'person'..."

"Yeah, you're right. It does say 'person', after all. This is Naoya. He would have said 'monster' or 'someone' if he meant otherwise."

Yuzu sighed and conceded defeat. "…Fine. I'd rather ask Naoya about this than sit around feeling scared and stupid! Well…I guess I've got no choice! If you two are going, I'm coming too! Let's go!"

As they began to make their way towards the Aoyama Cemetery with Yuzu leading them, Atsuro whispered in Hiro's ear.

"I didn't want to say anything because Yuzu was getting all emotional…but, I found something in the COMPs' functions. Let me explain it to you."

"Yeah?..."

"The function called Skill Set looks like it'll let us use powers like magic spells, too. If we have to fight demons again, it'll help if we set our COMPs to let us use them. It looks like you choose the Team Setup option to distribute points to us."

Hiro looked at his COMP and checked the 'Team' menu. He currently had a spell called Agi.

"Hm, what's this?...a Fire skill...what's this supposed to let me do, shoot fireballs from my hands or something?" As he spoke, Hiro was suddenly reminded of the _Mario_ games and how its eponymous protagonist could throw fireballs after picking up a Fire Flower. The thought of him doing the same thing made him laugh raucously, surprising Atsuro.

"Dude, what's so funny?"

"You ever heard of the _Mario_ games?"

"What?" Atsuro was insulted that his best friend thought his video game knowledge wasn't up to par. "Of course I have! Man, who do you think I am?"

"Haha, well, remember how when Mario gets on a Fire Flower..."

_Aoyama Cemetery, 18:48, August 18th 2012_

"Here we are… So, who would be at a place like this?" Atsuro wondered while glancing around. Hiro wondered the same thing as he began looking around the graves, while Yuzu looked more than a little creeped out and was hugging herself.

"Don't tell me it's a ghost… I feel like there's something out there… All those graves!"

"Hang on a second…Aoyama Cemetery…that rings a bell…" Atsuro said slowly. Hiro paused, and fear began to overtake him.

'Oh no, oh no, oh no...' He turned to look at his friends and snarled, "The email!"

Yuzu stared at him.

"Huh…!"

Then their world shattered.

An explosion went off in the distance, throwing dirt and bits of trees into the air and causing dozens, if not hundreds of birds, to fly away. Yuzu screamed, and Atsuro and Hiro both retreated.

"W-Was that an explosion? It sounded like it came from the other side of this forest!"

"An explosion in Aoyama Cemetery around 19:00… It's just like what the email said!" Atsuro looked at Hiro, and saw that he was looking at something moving in the forest.

"Look! Something's coming…!" Yuzu was scrambling to get as far away from the forest as possible.

Across from them, on the other side of the Cemetery, stood a horned demon covered in white fur, with a monkey-like face and dark red eyes.

The three immediately froze with fear.

The demon spoke, and Hiro was amazed that it could speak Japanese flawlessly - only its voice was extremely rough, and every syllable was undercut by a low growl. "Tch…That woman! I never knew humans could have such power!"

Suddenly, a man in the orange robes of the Shomonkai emerged from the side and threw his arms out to the side before the demon.

"Wendigo! Wait…!" The man shouted. The demon looked at him as though he was a fly to be crushed and laughed at him.

"Gwahaha! Fools! You're nothing like that woman! Do you really think you puny things can stop me?"

Wendigo rushed the man, and before Hiro could yell at him to get away he was punched in the chest by the great demon, sending him flying halfway down the cemetery. The man attempted to stand but failed and collapsed into a rapidly spreading pool of his own blood. As he lay dying, he groaned, "Ugh…Lady Amane…I'm so sorry…"

"Aaaaaaaah!"

"Holy - !"

"Hmm?" Wendigo had heard Yuzu's and Hiro's screams and turned to face them. "You humans are pests!" It snarled, dropping into a fighting stance, "Kill one, and another takes its place! I'll kill you all!"

"I've found you, Wendigo. I won't let you get away this time."

Hiro looked around to see where that calm voice came from. He saw a purple-haired girl in orange Shomonkai clothes, with a bizarre flower-like ornament on her head, apparently completely unfazed by the vicious demon that stood before her.

"Grah...! So the wench thinks she can catch up to me!"

"Hey! You guys need to run away! It's dangerous here!" Atsuro shouted.

Yuzu was still staring at the Wendigo, almost paralyzed with fear. "Forget them, Atsuro! We need to run before we die too!" She turned, only to find a number of demons rushing to block the exit. As if to make things even worse, Hiro spotted more demons coming in from the side.

"Wh-What the? How many demons are there?" Atsuro looked around to find more demons coming in from the side and from the forest.

Hiro looked around to find any way out of the cemetery, but had no such luck - demons had blocked every exit. He resigned himself to his fate and opened his COMP. "We're surrounded, and they've cut all the escape routes...looks like we've got a fight on our hands, guys. Right..." he took a deep breath and quickly formed a plan in his head. It wasn't anything brilliant, but he had no time to come up with anything better, and under these circumstances it was what they would have to make do with. "Atsuro, go after the demons coming in from our left! Yuzu, please come after that team coming in from the forest!" He turned to look at the demon teams blocking their way out. "I'll handle the demons behind us! Let's go, guys!"

Atsuro turned to face the demons coming in from the side. "Argh! I am SO gonna get you!"

Their shouting alerted the girl to their presence. "Hey, you guys! It's too dangerous here! Run!"

Atsuro looked all around him again and snapped, "Yeah right! That's not really an option right now!" The three teenagers pulled out their COMPs and worked to summon their demons as quickly as they could.

'Those are COMPs…Why do they have them…?' She thought.

"H-Hey! Say something!"

"…I guess I have no choice. I'll cooperate with you. But Wendigo is far too powerful a foe for you right now…leave him to me! I will follow your orders. Direct me as you please."

Hiro was distracted by his COMP screen lighting up.

_The COMP has activated the Harmonizer for battle mode. Functions will be limited._

"Hey! The COMP's saying something!…this must be the tutorial that email mentioned!" Atsuro shouted.

Yuzu looked at her COMP as well. "They showed up when we were fighting too! I guess some functions won't be usable…"

"Hey, Hiro! Are there any functions you can't use on your COMP anymore!"

Hiro looked around, and saw that the floating numbers over Yuzu's and Atsuro's heads had disappeared.

"The floating numbers vanished!"

Atsuro looked confused. "…! It must be those numbers they talked about at the Electric Museum! I'm confused!...Oh wait! It looks like there's more to the tutorial!"

_Each demon race has special skills called Race Skills. There are two kinds: -Automatic Activation Skills –Command Activation Skills. Use the Race Skills to gain the upper hand in battle. You can view the Race Skill's effect with the HELP menu._

"So I've gotta use these demons' skills, eh? Well, whatever it takes to survive!"

Yuzu was still unsure about the 'demon tamer' business. "I… guess we have no choice. I'm glad we have demons on our side and all, but still…"

Hiro looked towards the nearest demon, a single Kobold. 'No problem,' he thought as he summoned his own Kobold. Meanwhile, the tutorial continued playing. 'Why didn't this thing play before we entered combat?' he inwardly groaned.

_A team consists of three units: You, the summoner, and two contracted demons. Be cautious of the following: -The leader is in the middle – If the leader is defeated, the whole team is destroyed. – So long as the minions live, the leader takes less damage. – If you defeat a leader first, the EXP and Macca of the remaining monsters is halved. It is to your advantage to kill the minions flanking their leader._

Hiro ran towards to the enemy Kobold, which dropped into a battle stance. 'Okay, time to test out my magical powers,' he thought. He faced the demon, pointed a finger at it and growled, "Agi!"

To his surprise, a ball of fire about the size of a basketball suddenly formed in front of his finger, the flames threatening to lick him and set _him_ on fire, and launched itself at the Kobold. The demon simply stood there, stupefied, and by the time it tried to retreat it was much too late - the fireball made contact. Hiro watched on, horrified, as the wolfman was suddenly consumed in flames, shrieking in pain and running about in circles as the fire burned it to the bone - and then, after an entire minute, collapsed to the ground, reduced to a pile of ashes and blackened bones. Meanwhile, the COMP continued to play its tutorial even as it hung loosely in his right hand.

_A team consists of three units: You, the summoner, and two contracted demons. Be cautious of the following: - The leader is in the middle – If the leader is defeated, the whole team is destroyed. – So long as the minions live, the leader takes less damage. – If you defeat a leader first, the EXP and Macca of the remaining monsters is halved. It is to your advantage to kill the minions flanking their leader._

'Oh God, did I just burn that demon to death?...nah,' He ignored the tutorial and tried to convince himself that he did not just kill something, 'No way, it probably just goes back to Hell when it's beaten or something, haha...but, I mean, it's just a pile of ashes and bones now, so how - '

"Oi! Hiro, what are you doing? Watch yourself!"

At Atsuro's shout, Hiro snapped his eyes open and looked to his right. A pair of demons - another Kobold and a green giant in a loincloth his COMP identified as an Ogre - were rapidly approaching, and his own Kobold had already dropped into a battle stance. He grabbed a rock on the ground, hurled it at the green demon and watched as it simply bounced off the demon's chest - leaving no visible mark and only causing it to roar with anger.

'Oh shit - '

The demons sped up and charged at him now. Hiro had less than five seconds before the Ogre was nearly in front of him and swung the giant cleaver in its hand, intent on hacking his head off. Hiro ducked to avoid the blow - and was promptly kicked in the stomach by the demon, sending him flying seven feet and crashing into the pavement. Before he could get back on his feet or even figure out what was happening, the demon had grabbed him by the throat and pinned him to the wall, a manic grin on its face.

"Nrgh...get...off me..." Hiro found it extremely difficult to breathe, and even harder to concentrate - the demon's blow had left him dizzy and confused. He struggled to release himself, but the demon's grip was much too tight, and it dawned on him that he would be choked to death if this kept up. "Agh...I...won't die here!..." As he continued to flail about in the demon's tight grip, he grabbed its arm and choked out, "Agi!..."

To his surprise, the spell worked again. The demon's arm caught fire, followed by the rest of its body, and it released him, roaring with pain and throwing its cleaver aside. Hiro used the wall to support himself and pulled himself back onto his feet, breathing heavily and still winded from the Ogre's vicious kick. In front of him, his Kobold was still fighting the enemy Kobold, and it was winning - with a swift blow to the face, it sent its opponent reeling, and with another blow to the gut, it forced its enemy to its knees.

Then, before Hiro could do anything to stop it, his Kobold swung its club at the opponent's head. The enemy Kobold fell, but that hardly stopped his Kobold, which continued to beat its defeated opponent even after it stopped whimpering or moving. The boy looked on as his demon murdered its disarmed and defeated opponent for a few moments, utterly speechless, before he finally found his voice again and shouted, "Stop! Stop!"

"EH?" Kobold looked up at him, "WHAT WRONG, MASTER?"

"Wh-What you just - "

"Wendigo!" Hiro turned his head at that shout. "Go back whence you came!"

Atsuro paused from beating a Kobold down with its own club to look as well. "Am I seeing things, or is she holding...a COMP?" Indeed, Hiro noted that the young woman on the other side of the cemetery appeared to be holding a COMP, and he watched as Wendigo suddenly caught fire and staggered back, roaring with pain like that green demon he defeated moments ago. The flames burned out after a few seconds, but the Wendigo was clearly hurt - much of its white fur had been blackened, and (to Hiro's horror) its left arm had been burnt to the bone.

"Ghhh...humans...! I've learned your smells! This is far from over!" With another snarl, it teleported away.

"I can't let him go! I can catch him if I go now. Please excuse me..." The woman ran off into the forest, leaving Hiro stupefied. 'What just happened?...who was she?...'

He felt someone pulling at his sleeve, and turned to see Kobold beside him, dragging its bloodstained club on the ground and leaving a crimson trail behind it. 'WHAT WRONG, MASTER?'

Hiro now remembered why he had called out to Kobold and ordered it to stop. "It's...well..." he took a deep breath, but Atsuro cut him off.

"Hiro!"

He turned to see Yuzu and Atsuro running towards him, their demons already gone. Turning to Kobold, he sighed, "I'll talk to you later. Just rest for now, I think we all need a break after what just happened." At the push of a button, Kobold disappeared back into his COMP.

Atsuro reached him first and fell to his knees, clearly exhausted and slightly worse for the wear, and gasped for air. "We made it through, somehow...I'm still shaking..."

Yuzu followed him and sat down, visibly shaken. "Th-There's nothing we can do about it...what we just went through...a..." she shuddered, and Hiro saw that she was on the verge of tears. "A person was just killed..."

A long, uncomfortable pause followed. Yuzu finally broke it after an entire minute. "Hey, the animal that attacked that person in the apartment...It was a demon, wasn't it?"

Hiro leaned against the stone wall and sighed. "Yeah, probably..."

"Yeah, that's what I thought..."

"Demons, huh?" Atsuro grunted as he pulled himself back onto his feet, "Looks like we were prepared for the worst...In any case, I never thought the Shomonkai would be fighting against demons..." He paused. "They were using COMPs, too, and the demons didn't really scare them. That explosion must've been caused when they were fighting earlier." He paused again, and began pacing around the other two, deep in thought, before suddenly stopping and exclaiming, "They knew about the demons way before our COMPs!"

"That means..." Yuzu began, "The demons have been around for a long time, right? What are the Shomonkai?..."

Hiro was too tired to think up an answer to that question. "I don't know..."

"Yeah...we really don't know anything here...anyway," Atsuro changed the subject, "There's no doubt that Shomonkai girl had amazing powers. That big demon, Wendigo, seemed to be afraid of her, too...could she be the person mentioned in that email from Naoya?"

"She might be the one, yeah," Hiro answered. 'She did force that Wendigo demon to retreat with a single attack,' He reminded himself, 'And she is a human, or at least looks and feels like one...she did have some kind of presence around her, but it didn't feel threatening or anything...'

"I wonder, too. She seemed really strong, and I got this feeling from her..."

"The emails, the demons, and now the Shomonkai...damn it! Too much to think about!" Atsuro sat back down and groaned. "All we can do now is pray that nothing more happens today..."

Hiro was about to say, 'You're tempting fate' - but, as if Fate really hated them, the lights went out.

"What the-?" Atsuro exclaimed, "The streetlights went out!"

"What's going on?"

"Oh, man...the email came true..."

Atsuro turned to face Hiro, though he couldn't see anything more than his outline in the darkness. "The email?...O-Oh yeah!"

The two could hear Yuzu's voice from their right. "What's wrong, Atsuro?"

"...Hiro's right. It's a blackout! Remember what was in that first email? It said there'd be a blackout!" He paused to think. "Is this for real...? We don't know if it's city-wide, but so far it's all coming true..."

"Hey, I'm gonna see if I can get to my folks," Hiro said suddenly. 'Why didn't I think of this earlier?' He thought, 'If I had done this earlier, none of this would have happened...' As he got his cell out and switched it on, he wanted to smack himself in the face for not thinking of this before.

"Good idea, I'll try too!" Yuzu pulled her cellphone out of her bag and began fiddling with it as well, only to stop after a few moments. "No way! I can't use my phone!"

"Damn it!" Hiro hissed, "I can't get mine to work either!"

"Huh? Why not?" Atsuro slightly raised his voice in desperation. "How can you not have reception in a place like this?"

"Is this because of the blackout?"

"But the phone centers have their own backup power, right? This doesn't make sense!"

"I don't know! I just can't use my phone!"

Atsuro sighed and fell flat on his back. "I hope this is only temporary...I'm really tired..."

"It's pitch-black...I never thought Tokyo would be so dark at night..." Yuzu paused to gather her thoughts. "Hey, what are we going to do now?"

Suddenly, they heard light footsteps. Hiro's hand jumped to his COMP, and Atsuro whispered, "Wait! Someone's coming!"

"So, you are all safe. It's as I thought...you're demon tamers as well." Hiro's hand relaxed at the sound of that familiar, calm voice.

"...! Aren't you that girl from a little while ago?"

The young woman introduced herself. "I am Amane Kuzuryu, maiden of the Shomonkai. It's nice to meet you..."

"R-Right. I'm Atsuro Kihara, and she's Yuzu Tanikawa."

"It's a pleasure. Oh, and you are...?"

"I'm Hiroki Takeda."

"Kihara, Tanikawa and...Takeda. I shall remember your names..." She paused and looked around, as though she had sensed something. "The Wendigo seems to have released his minions into this cemetery." She suddenly fell silent for an entire minute. "I have set a simple barrier around this place tonight," She announced, "It's best if you stayed here."

Hiro blanched at the mention of more demons, and though he couldn't see Atsuro, he could guess that he wasn't happy either. However, he didn't have to see Yuzu to know how she was taking the news. "M-Minions? You mean, demons! You say we should stay, but...this is a cemetery!"

"It's better than dying. Wait here until dawn, then head for the station. Now, I must go."

"Hey! W-Wait!" Atsuro demanded. Amane, however, took no notice of him and just walked away without another word, and her outline quickly disappeared into the darkness. "...Damn, what's going on?"

Yuzu was still uncomfortable with the idea of sleeping in a cemetery. "She said to stay here until the sun came up...w-what should we do?"

Hiro groaned. He was physically and mentally exhausted, and he knew that none of the others were much better - if there were more demons around them, there was no way they could defeat them all in their present condition. "Let's follow her advice." He finally said.

"We don't have a choice," Atsuro added, "If she's right, then it's too dangerous to go anywhere now..."

"B-But...This is a graveyard...Are we going to be okay?"

Hiro would have reached out to her, but he could only barely see her outline in this darkness, and his limbs felt like they had been turned into lead. In the end, he settled comforting her verbally. "We'll be fine." he assured her.

"Y-Yeah...I don't think I can go far anyway...my legs are like jelly..."

"We don't have a choice," Atsuro said, "Let's take turns keeping a lookout..."

Though his arms felt like jelly and his legs were as stiff as boards, Hiro volunteered for guard duty - he reasoned that his friends, especially Yuzu, needed to rest more than he did. "I'll keep watch first. Will it be okay if we work in three-hour shifts?" He asked.

"Fine with me," Yuzu mumbled.

"Yeah, that's cool," Atsuro answered.

As Hiro walked off into the darkness, his Kobold walking alongside him and the COMP in his hands his sole source of light, he heard Atsuro groan, "Ugh...I've never wanted it to be morning so hard in my life!"

_Aoyama Cemetery, 22:30, August 18th 2012_

As he made his way around the cemetery for the hundredth time, Hiro remembered why he had called out to Kobold earlier and ordered it to stop. "Hey, remember why I asked you to stop earlier? Well, it's..." he took a deep breath, but the Kobold cut him off.

"MASTER SAD THAT I KILL?"

Hiro blinked, he did not expect the demon to be so forward with him or to read his mind. "Yes...well, I mean, I know you're demons, so you probably don't think like humans, but..."

The Kobold did what he least expected it to - it laughed. "HA HA...MASTER NO UNDERSTAND YET. WE KOBOLD, DEMON OF WAR. WE NO SHOW MERCY. IF ME LOSE, ME GET KILLED LIKE THAT." It paused, and Hiro swore it was trying to pull off a sad smile. "IT JUST HOW WE ARE. SORRY IF MASTER IS SAD, BUT ME CANNOT CHANGE FOR MASTER. ME WILL NOT CHANGE FOR MASTER, NOT FOR ANYONE."

"What? But - " Hiro stopped himself. 'Demons aren't humans,' He reminded himself, 'And demons probably don't give a rat's ass about human morality. Hell, I don't even know what makes these guys tick yet...' He sighed, "Yeah, alright. Just forget about it. By the way," he glanced at his watch, "We have another hour and a half of guard duty. Ah," They had arrived at a fork, and Hiro decided it would be best to split up and cover more ground. "Let's split up here. I'll go left and you go right. You see anything, just give me a holler. Oh, and let's try to stay awake, alright?"

_Aoyama Cemetery, 23:45, August 18th 2012_

"Ugh...I can't believe this...I'm the worst guard ever..." Hiro pulled himself back onto his feet with great difficulty. He'd been wandering around in the dark for over two hours now, and even worse he'd fallen asleep while on guard duty twice already. 'At least what that Amane girl did is working,' he thought. Indeed, though he could hear movement and low growling noises from the forest, no demon had been able to breach Amane's barrier. 'Good thing, too,' he reminded himself, 'If a demon attacked me now I don't think I'd be able to put up much of a fight...'

His mind wandered over to the deaths of those Kobolds and that green giant earlier. "Damn it..." he whispered, "I didn't mean to...ugh..." He took a deep breath to compose himself and tried to justify his actions in his mind. 'Kobold was right...if we hadn't killed them, they would've killed us...yeah, that's it. Besides, they clearly came ready to kill, so they must've be ready to die, too...'

Hiro shook his head and put those thoughts away, at this time they only made it harder for him to stay awake. He looked at his COMP and saw that he had two new emails. 'What?...who would send me mail at a time like this?'

Naoya's email, titled 'Laplace Mail', grabbed his attention. 'Laplace Mail?' he thought as he opened it, 'Isn't that the creepy email we got earlier today, the one that predicted all this crap? Hmm...'

_From: NAOYA_

_Subject: Laplace Mail_

_I'm sure you've noticed the Laplace Mail by now._

_Hiroki, everything in the world has causes and effects._

_If some intelligence could record and analyze every event simultaneously, the future would no longer be a mystery to us._

_Ultimately, nothing created by man can ever be truly perfect, but you can use these messages to guide your actions from now on._

"Huh?..." Hiro was almost too tired to think straight now, but the anger and disappointment the email created in him briefly awakened him. "The hell does this have to do with _anything_ we just went through?...why can't Naoya send me some meaningful help, like an uber-demon or something? Ugh...damn it..." With a sigh, he opened Atsuro's email.

_FROM: AT-LOW_

_Subject: Testing_

_Hey, it's Atsuro._

_I was messing with my COMP and saw that the email app's still working, even in the blackout. If you know someone's COMP address you can send mail directly to them. Plus, it looks like two COMPs will automatically learn each other's addresses when they get close to each other. It takes a while, though. I'm going to teach Yuzu how to use this function._

_Too much stuff happened today. I'm so tired. I just want it to be morning..._

'Huh...who isn't tired?' Hiro thought to himself. He would have replied, 'I'm tired, too', but figured that would be obvious, and so typed in 'Teach Yuzu for me' in response instead. He checked all three email folders, but saw no new mail, and cast a glance at his watch. '11:45 PM?...just fifteen more minutes, and I'm done,' he reminded himself.

Stifling yet another yawn, he began to drag himself around the cemetery again, now barely able to keep his eyes open to the presence of demons outside Amane's barrier.


	2. The First Day

Disclaimer: I still don't own Shin Megami Tensei.

A/N: Hi, just a few quick notes here. Firstly, I will be mostly sticking to the game's script, with a few exceptions here and there. Secondly, I'll be including some demons not found in DS but in other SMT games, such as the Seraphs and Surt from SMT1 & 2.

**Chapter II - The First Day  
**

_Location unknown, time unknown_

"...Are you certain, Remiel?"

A disembodied voice echoed throughout the featureless white room. "I am, Raphael. This is the one who can - who, if we handle this properly, _will_ - lead us to our final victory over the Scarlet Serpent and his slaves at Armageddon."

Many of the Seraphim laughed, a chilling laugh completely unsuited to their beautiful appearance, and some even nearly fell out of their chairs. "Oh, is he now, Remiel? He's just a little human boy..." The blue-skinned Seraph chortled. This human child, not even fully grown yet, bring down the Gates of Hell and lead the armies of Light to storm the palace of their Enemy? Not even Michael, the greatest of the Seraphim - no, not even Metatron and Sandalphon, the ones closest to Him, had been able to do that. What chance did this Child of Adam have? Surely Remiel was joking.

The voice was annoyed now. "I've been watching him through this maiden's eyes, Uriel. He is the one - of that, I have no doubts. He has the Essence of our Lord's blessed child, and so he is capable of destroying the Others and becoming King of the Demons."

"Hmph." The green-skinned female Seraph spoke now. "He isn't the only one, Remiel. There are many others like him, remember? So why not someone older, stronger, more experienced?..."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm stuck in this lockdown because of you and I have seven days - no, six now - to pull this off! I don't have time to find anyone else with the Essence!" Remiel snapped back. "Anyway, I can't sense anyone else like him in here so far, so he's our best bet to win the Eternal War quickly and decisively right now. Unless you want to wait for the thralls of the Enemy to reach him first?..."

"Fine, fine," Gabriel relented. "I trust you can bring him over to our side?"

"Of course. I've already drawn up a plan, see - I can get to him through this girl - "

Uriel interrupted him. "I object to this course of action. The boy hasn't even begun to awaken yet, has he? If we pin all our hopes on his head, and he loses it in battle with the Other Ones..."

"I agree." Another Seraph, a human-looking one with white hair, nodded at Uriel. "Anyway, Remiel, you know better than to trust the Children of Adam so quickly. They are weak of heart, weak of mind, and weak of body...not only are the odds of him actually winning the War dangerously low, it is entirely possible that someone can tempt him off the righteous path even after he wins the Final Battle, and then it will be Lucifer all over again...ah, and my greatest fear..." The beautiful angel took a deep breath. "Assuming he emerges victorious in the War of the Others and remains loyal to El Shaddai - what will happen when he naturally dies, as all humans must, and so release the Others sealed within him?..."

"It's a risk I'm willing to take, and by that point we should be able to contain them - " The irritable Thunder of God was cut off by the orange-skinned Seraph.

"No, Remiel. Camael and Uriel are absolutely correct - I cannot allow you to take such a risk...at least, not now."

"Come on, Michael! This is our first real chance in _centuries_ at breaking the stalemate and decisively defeating the Fallen Ones! You _have_ to trust me!"

"No, I don't." Michael's response was cold and flat. "However...I can see the truth in your words. If you can guide this boy to victory in the ongoing war between the Other Ones...then yes, perhaps he will have the strength to oppose the Fallen Son of the Morning...but, of course, first he has to live through this Ordeal." Michael paused to think and decide on an appropriate course of action. "Observe him. Keep the minions of the Fallen Morning Star away from him. But do not intervene - not even to save his life, _especially _if the Others are involved - until you are absolutely certain that he can survive the Ordeal. When - if - he can overcome the first of the Others he will have to fight, when his dormant power begins to awaken, _then_ you may act. Until then, you are not to so much as reveal your presence to him."

A long pause followed Michael's words. "Very well," Remiel finally replied, "I'll report back to you tomorrow morning. In a few days, we'll have him in the bag..."

"Good, good. Is that all for today, friends?" Michael looked around to find that none of the other Seraphim seemed to have anything to say. "Yes? Then let us depart from this place. May the Grace of the Unconquerable One Above Us go with all of you..."

_Aoyama Cemetery, Tokyo, 8:21, August 19th 2012_

"Hey, Yuzu, wake up."

Yuzu opened her eyes to find Hiro sirring next to her, his face uncomfortably close to hers.

"Whoa - !"

She nearly jumped away from him, and he recoiled.

Hiro blushed and scratched his head. "Ah...sorry about that, I didn't mean to scare you. I, I was just finishing my patrol, and it's eight o'clock - "

"Oh no, it's okay," Yuzu blushed as well. "Morning Hiro. Did you get some sleep...?"

"Not nearly enough, haha..."

"Morning!" Atsuro appeared from behind a gravestone, causing the two to flinch. As though nothing happened, he went on, "That girl was right. Some demon-looking things passed by, but they didn't notice us."

"Yeah… I saw 'em too. B-But now that the sun's out, we can get out of here, right?"

"We'll be alright." Hiro squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. The two blushed and Hiro quickly pulled his hand away, worried that Yuzu might yell at or even slap him for touching her, but to his pleasant surprise she smiled at him.

"Cool! I'm glad I didn't have to spend the night alone, though. It was pretty freaky."

Atsuro laughed. "Hahaha, yeah. I hope that's the last time I ever have to sleep in a cemetery! But the lights never came back on..." he sounded slightly worried, "Hard to tell in the daylight, but there's still a blackout."

"Yeah...I still don't have any cell reception. So...none of that was a dream..."

The COMPs suddenly beeped, and Hiro scrambled for his.

"Huh...that was the COMP's email beep. Wonder who it's from..."

"G-Guess we should read it..."

_From: NAOYA_

_Subject: Death Clock_

_Hiroki, you're still alive, aren't you? I'll explain the function of the Death Clock to you._

_The Death Clock displays the number of days a person has left to live. The details are:_

_The Death Clock is only available to the party leader._

_A single digit (0-9) is displayed._

_If a person has 10 or more days left before death, nothing is displayed._

_Finally, the Death Clock is simply a value calculated by the Laplace system. A person's actions can cause the value to change, so be careful._

'Oh no...' Hiro was petrified inside. 'Yesterday, our value was one...so, today...hahaha,' he tried not to think about that, 'Must be an error or something...there's no way any of us are gonna die today...' He took a deep breath and read his other email, titled 'Laplace Mail'.

_From: The Observer_

_Subject: Laplace Mail_

_Good morning. Here is today's NEWS._

_1. Power outages will continue in all parts of Tokyo within the Yamanote Loop through the day. It is unknown when power will be restored._

_2. Poisonous gas is suspected to have escaped from underground pockets. All train service is cancelled across all lines. All exits from within the Yamanote Loop will be closed._

_3. At 13:00 in Chiyoda-ku Bunkyo, a localized blizzard will occur. Three victims wil be murdered by a snowman._

_HaVE a nICE daY._

"A-A Death Clock...! What's up with that?" Hiro looked up and saw that Yuzu was panicking. "So we can see how long people have left to live? Hey, Hiro..." She slowly turned to Hiro, "Didn't you say before that you could see a number over our heads...?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Well...? What was it? Hey!" Yuzu grabbed him by the shoulders, "How many days do I have?"

"...It's zero, isn't it?" Atsuro's words caused Yuzu to let go of Hiro and turn towards him instead, "Yesterday, you said...the number was one. Which means...our number right now...it's zero, isn't it?"

Hiro looked down, partially to look away from his friends but also to hide the fear on his face. "That's right..."

"Ha...haha..." Atsuro was laughing in disbelief, "Oh man...I'm gonna die today?"

"That's it. I've had enough! This stupid conversation is over!" Yuzu nearly screamed out her response, "C'mon, let's go. This is all some big hoax...let's hurry back home!"

Hiro looked over his Laplace Mail again. "Wish we could...but the trains don't work..."

"...! Wh-What do you mean?"

"Calm down, Yoohoo." Atsuro sighed. "I checked the other email. Don't you remember what it said? 'All stations are locked down'. If that's true, we won't be able to use the trains."

"B-But...! How can we know for sure unless we go?" Yuzu was desperately clinging to every last hope she had of getting out of there, "The email might be wrong about that!"

Hiro got to his feet and pocketed his COMP. "Let's go to the station, then."

Atsuro nodded with approval and got to his feet as well. "Yeah, I'm with you. No sense in griping about it here. Let's check the nearest station!"

As they left for the nearest station, Yuzu prayed, "God, please let Shibuya Station be open...!"

After the three left the cemetery and emerged in Omotesando, Yuzu suddenly stopped.

"Hey, you guys! Look...!"

Hiro felt a chill down his spine. before him, the road was littered with ruined and abandoned vehicles, and there were signs of violence everywhere.

"What the hell...?" Atsuro was pale as a ghost, "What happened here?"

"What a mess...did all this happen just because we had a blackout for one night?"

Hiro looked closer at one of the cars, and noticed that there were claw and bite marks on it. "No, it wasn't the blackout..."

"Huh?" Yuzu turned to him, surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Headlights aren't hooked up to the power grid." Atsuro pointed up, and Hiro saw that it was just as he said - a car's headlights were hooked up to a transmission line. "Accidents this bad wouldn't have happened..."

"Then..." Yuzu paused, as if she dreaded the answer. "It really is because demons are in Tokyo...?"

"There's no proof, but that'd be my guess." Atsuro started walking again. "Let's hurry...we're almost to Shibuya."

_Shibuya Station, 8:38, August 19th 2012_

Hiro could not push past the large crowds gathered in the streets of Miyamasuzuka, though he could still make out SDF vehicles and a barricade past the crowds. An SDF officer was repeating through a megaphone, "Poison gas has leaked! This area is dangerous! Please stay away from Shibuya Station! All lines, including private rails, are affected. Remain calm until the problem is solved! Police blockades are in effect throughout the Yamanote line, including overpasses."

As Hiro got closer to the barricade, he spotted a man arguing with another soldier at the barricade. "All the rail lines...? Then how are we supposed to get outside the Yamanote Circle? Hey, what's going on here? I demand a full explanation for this!"

Hiro could barely make out the soldier's answer over all the noise the crowd was making. "The cause is currently under investigation. Until then, please obey our instructions! To ensure everyone's safety, we ask for your understanding and cooperation!"

"We're also looking into the explosion that occurred in Aoyama Cemetery last night." The soldier with the megaphone announced, "If you have any information, please inform a disaster relief worker immediately!"

As the soldier repeated his message, the crowd began to calm down and disperse.

Atsuro groaned. "Damn…not only aren't the trains working, we can't even get near the station…!"

"Was that stuff about the gas leak true?" Yuzu scratched her head, "You think this is because of the demons, too…?"

Hiro glanced at the soldiers gathered around the barricades, who were still repeating their message to the shrinking crowd. On one hand, he reasoned that a gas leak was entirely possible; on the other, something about all this felt off, and the SDF did blockade the area very quickly and without prior warning. "Hmm...well, I suppose it could be..."

"I don't know...seemed to me like the Self-Defense Force guys were just lying." Atsuro was looking at the soldiers suspiciously.

"Huh?"

"You think they put up all these barricades and blocked in the entire area overnight? No...it looks to me like all this was prepared way in advance..."

"W-Wait, you mean...?" Yuzu bit her lip.

"Yeah...there's something else going on here that we don't know about." Atsuro began pacing nervously. "Damn...everything that email said is coming true. At this rate, we're gonna...!"

Hiro tried to stay calm and reminded himself of Naoya's emails. "Let's raise the number."

"You mean change how long we have on the Death Clock...? Good idea, Hiro!" Yuzu's voice was filled with hope again. "Naoya's email said the number changes based on what we do! So let's do something about all this! That Laplace Mail stuff about not escaping the Yamanote Line and us going to die today...let's prove it wrong!"

"Haha...I'm surprised to hear that from you, Hiro." Atsuro calmed down and laughed a little. "The Death Clock and the Laplace Mails do run on the same predictive algorithm...which means the Death Clock uses what the Laplace Mail says to calculate a number. Its probability ratio is pretty high...the underlying process must be real complicated."

The influx of information was confusing Yuzu. "H-Hey, slow down, whiz kid. You're getting a little ahead of us non-eggheads…"

"Oh, sorry. It's an important point, though, so listen…with an algorithm this complex, one mistake could cause a very large error. Which means…if we make sure the thing the Laplace Mail predicts don't come true…its predictions become useless, affecting the death clock's readout!"

Yuzu nodded. "Does that mean…we don't have to die today?"

"Seems that way..." Hiro nodded. Atsuro's words restored some hope to him - now he knew there was a chance they wouldn't die today.

"So we have a chance!"

"It's not certain that the results will be thrown off, mind you…" Atsuro said grimly. "But it's probably safe to assume that we can change the outcome."

"Uh…is this really possible?"

"Haha, what's the matter, Yoohoo? This was your idea." Atsuro laughed.

"Huh? But…I don't know all that stuff you were talking about…!"

"Haha, there's the Yoohoo we know. Don't sweat it, okay? Alright! Let's do whatever we can to find a way out of this lockdown! As long as we prevent what's predicted in those emails, we can beat the Death Clock!"

"Yeah! C'mon, let's go!" Yuzu started to walk away. "Even if the area inside the Yamanote line is locked down there must be a secret exit!"

"Right! But we'll have to be careful of the police and the Self-Defense Force…" Atsuro warned her.

"Huh?" Yuzu stopped and turned around, confused. "Why..?"

"We were at the cemetery." Hiro reminded her.

"He's right." Atsuro pointed out. "The SDF guy at the station said they were looking into the explosion. If they happen to detain us, they might take away our COMPs…"

"Oh yeah…okay, then. We'll be extra careful."

_Shibuya Station, 8:50, August 19th 2012_

"When the hell're you gonna let us out?"

Hiro stopped and turned at the sound of that voice. A punk was arguing with a soldier, and it was apparent that their conversation had gone nowhere.

"We'll lift the lockdown once we can confirm the area is safe. Please wait until then."

"Yeah, yeah, you said that already! I'm askin' when that's gonna happen!"

The soldier narrowed his eyes, the punk was clearly starting to get on his nerves. "No matter how often you ask, the answer is the same. Now go back to the safe zone."

"What?" The punk himself was more than a little pissed now. "You wanna say that again?"

"Quit yappin' like a dog and shut your cake hole."

The punk, the soldier and Hiro turned to their left and saw a tall young man with purplish hair approaching them. As Hiro looked him over, he felt that this wasn't someone to mess with - the man already looked like a delinquent, and that ugly expression on his face (as well as the fact that he was taller than Hiro) didn't help at all.

"Huh? Who the hell said - …!" The punk gasped and stepped back as soon as he identified the man. "K-Kaido…! I-I'm sorry, man!"

"…Hmph." Kaido watched as the punk fled with a bored expression on his face. Atsuro seemed to recognize the delinquent and whispered in Hiro's ear.

"Kaido…? Like, Kaido of the Shibuya Daemons…?"

"You know him, Atsuro…?" Yuzu's expression of wonder quickly turned into one of disgust. "Ugh…more 'daemons'. That's the absolute last thing I want to hear about now…"

"C'mon, Yoohoo. They're not quite the same thing. A daemon is a guardian spirit. The Shibuya Daemons are one of the more charismatic punk gangs. Kaido's their leader. They're really famous in Shibuya."

"Hey," Hiro suddenly spoke up, "Think he's seen Naoya?" This was a chance he couldn't miss - Naoya was the one person they knew who seemed to have any idea what was going on, and if they were going to get any meaningful answers, it would have to come from him.

"I get it…even if he doesn't know, maybe one of his flunkies will!"

"Kaido IS known for treating his people well…" Atsuro nodded. "Yeah, let's go talk to him!"

The three quickly made their way to Kaido just as he turned and began to walk away.

"Huh? Who're you guys?"

"I'm Hiroki Takeda," Hiro said politely and pointed his friends, "And these are my friends, Atsuro Kihara and Yuzu Tanikawa."

"Cool, I'm Kaido. You guys need somethin'?"

"Do you know Naoya?"

Kaido tilted his head in confusion. "Huh? Naoya? Who's he?"

"He's Hiro's cousin." Atsuro spoke up before Hiro could explain. "We don't know where he is..."

"Well…things are pretty bad around here, so I'll help you look. Got a photo or anything?"

"Yeah, one sec..." Hiro pulled out his phone and showed Kaido a picture of Naoya.

"This is the guy, huh…? Send me the pic over IR." Hiro nodded and did just that. "Cool, got it. Alright, once the cells come back on, I'll spread it around my crew. That all you wanted?"

"Oh, uh..." Hiro had to know if there was any other way out of the Yamanote Line. "D'you know of any secret exits?"

"If I did, I'da used it already. We're havin' trouble gettin' through the central ward."

Atsuro sighed with disappointment. "I had a feeling you'd say that…"

"Everyone's in the same boat here… If that's all, I'm gonna get going."

Hiro nodded politely. "Goodbye."

"Huh...? No need to be so formal, man." Kaido chuckled and walked away. "Alright, be seein' ya."

"How'd it go, Hiro? Were you able to see what the Death Clock said about Kaido?"

"Yeah, it was 6."

Yuzu was shocked. "Six days? I-It was that short? That means he has less than a week, right…!"

"Don't be ridiculous, it was just a coincidence. Six days is better than our time…" Atsuro pointed out.

"Y-Yeah, but…"

Atsuro sighed. "Sorry…didn't mean to bring you down like that. C'mon, let's get going! We'll find a way out and change our fate!"

"Y-Yeah…! Let's go, Hiro!"

As the three left the station, their email alerts went off. Hiro opened up his COMP to find two emails, one from Naoya and one from a 'DA Registrar'.

_From: NAOYA_

_Subject: Devil Auction_

_How are you doing, Hiroki? I've written a new application for the COMP, so I'm sending it to you._

_Once you read this email, the option for the Devil Auction should be available in the COMP menu._

_You should be getting an email from the auction site, too._

_You know about Macca, the currency of the Netherworld, right? You get it when you defeat demons. You need Macca to bid in the auctions. Money makes the Netherworld go 'round, too._

_Please keep surviving. I look forward to seeing you again._

'I appreciate the help, but...if you wanted to help me out this much, why'd you get me trapped in here with the demons in the first place?' Hiro thought bitterly. 'That's another thing I'll have to ask him when we find him,' he reminded himself as he opened his other email.

_From: DA Registrar_

_Subject: Welcome!_

_Welcome to the Devil Auction!_

_We are a member-based auction site that helps you with the bothersome tasks of forming contracts with demons for use on your behalf._

_Demons will make themselves available as merchandise to bid upon by Devil Auction members. The winner will be able to make a contractwith the demon, and will have a powerful new ally._

_Please spend your wages of sin at the Devil Auction!_

"A Devil Auction...?" Yuzu's exclamation alerted Hiro. "Wh-What is this? What's going on?"

"...demons selling themselves." Hiro finally said after some thought.

"...It looks that way. One thing's for sure..." Atsuro was lost in thought, "Demons have been on this world for a long time, and some people have known about them."

"H-How can you be so sure?"

"Think about it. For an auction to exist, you need someone to run it and you need someone to buy from it. If there are other bidders than just us, then the auction has been around since before then."

"Uh-huh..." Yuzu nodded with understanding. "Okay, I get it. Still...it's kind of a shock. We were living here but we knew nothing at all..."

An idea popped into Hiro's head. "Let's try to use it."

"Yeah..." Atsuro nodded at him. "There's a chance we might die today...if we can get strong demons as allies from this website, our odds of surviving will go up."

"So you're saying that we have to get demons so we can fight even more demons?" Yuzu clearly did not approve of that plan. "I've had enough of this! Why do we have to fight?"

"We have to live!" Hiro reminded her.

"Urgh...that's true, but...let's try to avoid as much of this bad stuff as we can, huh?"

"Yeah...if we can escape, that would be the best option." Atsuro sighed. "But if there's ever something we can't run from...we'll have to make up our minds..."

Hiro stared at his friend. "Make up our minds?..."

"What else? We'll have to use this auction and do everything we can to help us fight..."

_Shibuya, Tokyo, 9:29, August 19th 2012_

"There are demons here, too?" Yuzu looked around worriedly as demons closed in on them from all sides, and fumbled for her COMP.

Atsuro had already gotten his demons out. "Everyone will be in trouble if we leave them alone...we better take care of 'em!"

Hiro followed Atsuro's lead and summoned his demons - Kobold and a newcomer, Ogre. "Right, uh..." he pointed at the mass of demons coming in from the front, across a small bridge, "Just...take them out! Do whatever you're best at, demons!"

He would not be disappointed in his investment. Actually, the Ogre he had just bought frightened even _him_. At his simple command, it roared and hurled its cleaver at an enemy Ogre that was charging their position, splitting its head in half and slicing through a Kobold running behind it. Even as his Kobold worked itself into a frenzy, the Ogre had already rushed forward and was beating another Kobold into a bloody pulp with its bare hands.

'Why am I starting to think this is normal?...' Hiro wondered, but he quickly pushed those thoughts out of his head. 'This isn't the time, this isn't the time...' That mantra repeated itself in his head as he joined the fight and launched a fireball at an advancing Kabuso.

He realized the battle was over almost as soon as it had begun. The enemy demons were more than a little scared of them to begin with and so attacked in large numbers, but after seeing their allies being chopped up or beaten to death or set on fire, many of the enemy demons realized their best bet was to get out of there and live to fight another day. 'That's another thing...' Hiro thought as he looked at the carnage around him, 'We should clean these bodies up before someone finds them. We should also collect Macca for the Auction...' he was personally disgusted at the thought of looting corpses, but if it meant improving their chances to survive this day, he reasoned that it would have to be done.

_Shibuya, 9:38, August 19th 2012_

"Hey, Yoohoo!" Atsuro laughed, "How come we never talk about boring stuff? Tell us about your family..."

Yuzu stopped and turned to Atsuro, and though she was smiling, Hiro instantly knew that she was now looking for an excuse to beat Atsuro up. "Hey, moron, try calling my family 'boring' one more time..."

"Uh-I-Sorry!" Atsuro flinched and stepped back. "It was just a slip of the tongue!"

"Eh, it's fine...it's not like it really matters all that much." Yuzu took a deep breath. "It's just an ordinary family. But my parents never got along at all...so they got divorced last year. I've been living with my mom." She looked down and sighed. "But even after leaving my dad, my mom seems a lot touchier...she fusses over nothing! I know it's tough to take care of me by herself, but she's getting on my nerves." Another uncomfortable pause. Hiro was thinking that starting this conversation might have been a bad idea when Yuzu continued, "...She and I hardly ever talk anymore."

Hiro looked down to avoid her eyes. 'Damn, she's got it tough,' he thought, 'I've always been complaining about Naoya never being around anymore, but she's lost her father and doesn't get along with the only family she has left...' The trio walked in silence for a few minutes before he worked up the strength to ask, "Was it better before?"

"A jerk who supported us or the tense freedom we have now...it's hard to say."

_Ebisu Station, 9:38, August 19th 2012_

"Huh? We can't go through here, either?"

"Sorry, Miss." The SDF soldier didn't sound sorry at all. "There's been an outbreak of poisonous gas. Please step back." Hiro noted that the man and his comrades all had no Death Clocks - it appeared that they will all live longer than 10 days.

"Damn it..." Atsuro hissed, "There really are troops all along the railroads! We might die today, too...damn it!"

"If only our cellphones worked, I could call my mom and tell her that I can't come home...Oh!" An idea popped into her head, "That reminds me! The COMPs' email works, right? Can't we contact the outside?"

"Hey!" Atsuro brightened at the suggestion, "I'll give it a try!" He got his COMP out and began to furiously type. "...If this works, I'll send an email to my COMP at home...huh?"

Seeing that Atsuro had stopped typing, Yuzu and Hiro both looked over his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"'Cannot connect to the specified server.'...that's what it says."

"It's not connecting?...what's that mean?"

"Means we've been completely cut off from the outside..." Hiro said grimly.

"Let's not jump to conclusions like that," Atsuro replied hastily. "Well, Naoya made this COMP to begin with...maybe it can't use standard connections to communicate with regular COMPs. "

"So...it didn't work? All right, let's go check out someplace else..."

"...Hmm..." Atsuro was deep in thought. "Let's see if there's anything else going on..."

_Omotesando, Tokyo, 10:30, August 19th 2012_

"Man… Omotesando…" Yuzu sighed as the three walked down the street. "I could never have imagined something like this when I came out here yesterday. Hey, look…!" She pointed at a dark-haired man with a tie, who noticed her as well and made his way towards her.

"Hm…? Is that Yuzu? You used to go to Haru's shows, didn't you?"

"Yes, I'm Yuzu Tanikawa. I'm surprised you remember me, Gin!"

The man grinned. "Heh. A man in my line of work has to have a good memory for names and faces."

"Ahaha! Sounds like a tough job! Oh, um…"

Hiro interrupted them. "Who's he?"

"Oh, there's this indie singer I really like named Haru. Gin's kind of Haru's guardian. I met him at a show, and we've spoken a couple times since. Gin always watches out for people, so everyone tends to consider him a big brother."

The man chuckled. "You flatter me, Yuzu. So, are these two your friends? We haven't met, right?" He turned to Atsuro and Hiro and extended his hand.

"Oh, sorry! Feel free to introduce yourselves, guys!"

Atsuro took Gin's hand and shook it. "I'm Atsuro Kihara. Nice to meet you."

Hiro suddenly got an idea. He grinned and shook the man's hand as well and said, "I'm Yuzu's boyfriend."

"Wha...?" Yuzu turned to Hiro, whose grin became even bigger as he winked at her. She paused, then turned red as a tomato and stammered, "Cut that out! What're you saying, Hiro? That's not...u-uhhh," She turned back to Gin, "Gin, this is Hiroki Takeda. Arrrrgh...!"

"Heh, don't worry, I get it." Gin laughed. "Take it nice and easy, Yuzu." He turned back to Hiro, "The name's Eiji, but everyone calls me Gin. I run a bar over that way." He pointed down the street. "I'm in a real fix. Everything from the ice to the fruits in the fridge are wiped out. Well, no sense crying over spoiled milk. Just gotta wait for the power to come back." He looked over the three and asked, "You been here long? Bet you've been out since the Blackout…heh. What a sorry situation. Hurry home and let your folks know you're safe, okay?"

Yuzu's smile turned upside-down at that. "Uh, about that...the stations have been locked down by the SDF, and they won't let anyone through."

"What? The station's locked down and no one's getting through? Are you pulling my leg…?" Gin didn't sound like he fully believed what Yuzu was saying. "Hm…the bar TV's busted and my cell's dead, too. Looks like we're all in the dark…man…what's going on?"

"Your cell doesn't work either? That's been a huge problem for us, too!" Yuzu paused. "Well…sitting here won't get us home, so we're thinking of looking for a way out."

"Sounds like a big deal. But if the government's on the job this should blow over soon."

Yuzu sighed. "I hope you're right…"

"Just you watch, it'll be over by nightfall." Gin reassured her. "I'm going to go catch some Zs at the bar…If you need help with anything, just give me a holler."

Yuzu seemed happier as Gin turned to leave. "Okay! Thanks a ton, Gin!"

"Hey, Hiro..." Atsuro asked him, "What did the death clock say about Gin?"

Hiro looked on as Gin left. "It said 6..."

Yuzu whirled around, shocked. "6? Why? I-Is Gin going to die in six days?...but this is...this is insane!"

"I see..." Atsuro wondered out loud. "I hoped if we stayed close to people with high numbers, we'd have better odds of survival."

"I get it...people without a number are likely to live for a while. They might help us."

Hiro thought about it. Yes, it made sense - if, for example, they bunkered down at Gin's bar or stayed close to the barricades, they should remain far away from the demons and so stay safe. "You're right!"

"We can't know for sure," Atsuro admitted, "But we should do everything we can to increase our odds of survival!"

_Kannagi-cho, 11:02, August 19th 2012_

"It's so hot.,..wish the buses or taxis were working." Yuzu groaned under the heat. "I'm getting all sweaty...is Atsuro not back yet?"

Hiro looked in the distance and got up as soon as he saw a familiar figure enter his sight. "Hey, there he is!"

"No good." Atsuro shook his head as he approached the two. "All the roads under the rail bridge have been blockaded by the SDF. It's just as they said. Everything inside the Yamanote Line is locked down."

Hiro, however, was not daunted - mostly because he knew the alternative was to give in to despair and stay trapped in the Yamanote Loop for God knows how long. "Let's not give up yet."

"No argument here." His smile disappeared as he turned to the side. "Huh?...is that Keisuke?"

The person he was looking at, a boy with glasses, noticed them as well and began to make his way towards them. "What the...Atsuro?"

"I thought I recognized you, Keisuke!" Atsuro laughed and ran over to his friend. "Long time no see! Keisuke helped me out big time in middle school," he turned back to Yuzu and Hiro, "I wouldn't be here without the guy!"

Keisuke flushed. "I-I wouldn't go that far..." he stopped mid-sentence and looked up, and his expression suddenly changed. "Atsuro...! No, all of you! Your number..."

"Huh?" Atsuro turned around to face his old friend. "Did you just say-?"

"N-Never mind! I have to get going!" Before Atsuro realized what was happening, Keisuke had turned and started to run off in the opposite direction.

"What's up with him?..."

"How do you know him?" Hiro had been a good friend of Atsuro's since grade school, but he had never seen this Keisuke guy before, and was curious as to how they became friends.

"He always used to stand up for the weaker kids, so they really depended on him. He saved me a bunch of times, too...if not for him, I'd have been a gofer for three years."

"Weird..." Yuzu stared after Keisuke, who was still running in the distance. "He seemed pretty shy himself just now."

"Yeah, I have no idea. I lost all contact with him after we got to high school...oh, by the way, Hiro," he turned back to Hiro, "Did you remember to check his death clock readout?"

Hiro inhaled sharply. He didn't want to frighten his friends again, but figured that saying 'I forgot' would be an obvious lie. "Yeah, it was one."

"1...? Damn it!" Atsuro panicked for the first time that day and turned to look at Keisuke's fleeing form. "Keisuke's gonna die tomorrow!"

"No he won't," Hiro said firmly, "We'll save him from whatever problem he runs into tomorrow. After we live through today, of course."

_Roppongi, 11:32, August 19th 2012_

"Huh? Hey, I know that song!" Yuzu got excited as the sound of music filled their ears.

"Sorry about the volume!" a singer in white shouted, "I'm using a battery-powered amp. Blame it on the blackout! Here's hoping my songs get you out of those Blackout Blues!"

The crowd gathered on the street cheered loudly, and Yuzu joined in. "Omigosh! It's Haru! Awesome! This is just what I needed to cheer me up!"

The woman named Haru spotted Yuzu cheering in the crowd and shouted, "Looks like I've got a fan in the crowd! I'm about warmed up now-so here's one for you!"

"This is so great! Haru is the best!" Hiro could barely hear Yuzu over the crowd's cheering, and soon he himself had joined in. The street was filled with noise, to the point where Hiro couldn't hear anything anyone next to him said, until Haru's street performance ended.

"Of all the places to see a show from Haru...! That was so cool!"

Atsuro, too, had been cheering, and he took a moment to catch his breath before speaking again. "Her singing was pretty good, but is she that famous?"

"Yeah! Uh, in the indie scene. She's the same Haru I told you about earlier. She used to be in a band called D-Va, but now she's gone solo."

"Solo? What happened to D-Va?"

"I don't really know much about the band...I just heard they split up when Aya, one of their members, quit to study music."

"Huh..." Atsuro looked over at the singer, who was now gathering her things. "So her name's Haru? Well, I think you can count me as a fan too!"

Hiro laughed. "Me three!"

"I know, right? Haru's so awesome!"

Atsuro laughed as Yuzu continued to gush about Haru to Hiro. "Well, we've rested long enough. We don't have much time left…"

"Yeah, we should be focused on surviving..." Yuzu trailed off when she saw Hiro staring at Haru - or, rather, just above her. "Hm? What's the matter, Hiro?"

"It said zero..."

"That's what the death clock readout on Haru was…? We have to tell her!"

"Wait, Yuzu - " Hiro placed his hand on Yuzu's shoulder and tried to hold her in place.

"Wait a sec, Yoohoo!"

"What now?"

"What would you say? If you tell her straight up, she'll think you're crazy!"

Yuzu stopped at once, and Hiro felt it was safe enough to let go of her now. "Ugh...you're probably right."

"Don't forget, our number is zero too." Atsuro reminded her. "We might die today first. If we don't do something about that, how are we supposed to help anyone else?"

"Yeah..." Yuzu sighed, and her shoulder seemed to sag. "Good call. There's no use worrying about that until we have a solution to this whole mess."

"Right. C'mon guys, let's go..."

_Shinjuku, 12:04, August 19th 2012_

As Hiro walked back into Shinjuku, he saw someone who looked like Naoya duck into a side street.

"Hey, Hiro!" Atsuro had noticed the mysterious figure as well. "Wasn't that Naoya?"

Hiro had already broken into a run after him. "What are you waiting for?" he shouted back at his friends, "Quick, after him!"

He barely heard Atsuro and Yuzu following him. "Gotcha!"

Personally Hiro didn't feel too good about this, but what choice did they have? They knew next to nothing about their present situation, while Naoya had foreseen the demon invasion and the lockdown...no, he got them involved in the first place by giving them COMPs loaded with demons. 'How much more does he know, I wonder?...'

The three ran into the side street and came to an open area. "Hey! Where did Naoya go?"

"He's over there!" Yuzu pointed at an alley. "I saw someone go over there, and it looked like Naoya!"

"Alright, let's go after him!"

The three raced towards the alley - only to suddenly find themselves surrounded by demons, who were teleporting into the area and moving to cut off their exits.

"What? Why are there so many demons out in broad daylight?" Yuzu had thought demons only worked in the night or early morning, and hurried to get her own demons out.

"Maybe they don't care what time of day it is…well, whatever! We've gotta do something about them!" Atsuro turned to Hiro, who had already gotten his demons out. "What's the plan, Hiro?"

"Let's find Naoya, otherwise we'll have come all the way here for nothing!" Leaving now was not an option, Hiro reminded himself - Naoya was the only person he knew who had any clue what was going on, and he had a head full of questions for him to answer.

"Well, we won't find Naoya until we deal with these guys!" Atsuro gestured at the demons all around them.

"That's the safest way." Yuzu added, "If we don't defeat them, they'll probably come after us."

As Atsuro approached a Pixie team with his Kabuso and Kobold, he shouted, "Hey guys! Be careful of where you are in relation to the demons! If they surround someone who's all alone, it'll be dangerous!"

Yuzu was advancing on a team led by a demon Hiro had never seen before, a winged girl in pink, with Pixie and another Ogre by her side. "I-I know! We have to work together, so let's think our moves out carefully!"

"Screw being a good sport! They'll go down faster if we gang up on them!"

Hiro had already run up to a railing, flanked by his faithful Kobold and Ogre. "Alright, stay cool," he told himself as he turned to face another team of two Kobolds and that flying demon - a 'Moh Shuyuu', his COMP told him. "Nothing good will happen if you panic...rush them!" he ordered his demons.

Ogre hurled its cleaver at one of the Kobolds, but it quickly ducked to avoid the great knife and lunged at Ogre, sending both of them to the ground. Meanwhile, to Hiro's left, his Kobold had engaged the other enemy Kobold in close combat, though it was apparent that his demon - being stronger and more experienced - was winning. 'That just leaves me with...'

"Bufu!"

Hiro looked in the direction of that shrill voice, and found a large ball of ice being thrown at him. Before he could even curse, the ball struck the earth in front of him and shattered, spraying him with sharp shards of ice and leaving several cuts all over his body. The pain wasn't quite overwhelming, but it was enough to distract him from retaliating.

"Aaargh! What in the hell - ?" He looked down, and saw that - in addition to him bleeding from several cuts, mostly on his chest and arms - his legs were frozen solid. "Damn it to hell! You - I'll kill you!" he looked up to find the Moh Shuyuu flying at him, its eyes burning with hatred and a malicious grin on its face. "Agi!"

The Moh Shuyuu was hit by the fireball and fell to the ground screaming, but Hiro's look of vicious triumph disappeared when it hissed, "Dia!" and healed its rather severe burns. By that time, the ice had miraculously melted, and Hiro ran backwards to try and put as much distance between him and the enraged Moh Shuyuu as possible. "I will destroy you!" the furious demon shrieked. As it flew towards him, Hiro spotted a garbage bag on the ground, picked it up and hurled it at the demon. As he'd hoped, the heavy bag caught it in mid-flight and threw it to the ground, stunned.

"Agi!"

The garbage bag caught fire, as did the hapless demon trapped under it. Hiro watched grimly as the Moh Shuyuu shrieked and writhed under the burning garbage bag, and he instinctively covered his face as the stench of burning garbage reached him. As he turned away from the horrific sight, images of the Kobold's and Ogre's fiery deaths from yesterday flashed through his mind. 'You're doing it again, you're killing again and I bet you won't even lose a second of sleep over it this time - '

'Shut up, just shut up and calm down, I only did what had to be done,' He told himself as the Moh Shuyuu finally fell silent, 'She was going to take our lives, so I had no choice but to take its life, and anyway it probably just goes back to Hell or wherever it came from when it's defeated - '

"Huh?" Atsuro's cry made Hiro turn, and saw that his friend wasn't worrying about the Ogre he was beating into a pulp - he was now pointing at a bizarre latecomer, a brown demon with walrus-like tusks and large claws on its stubby little hands, that had just appeared in front of the alleyway. "They're multiplying! Why are there so many demons?"

Before Hiro could answer, the demon suddenly rushed towards him. It became a speeding blur, and just as his COMP identified it as a 'Waira', he was thrown against the guardrail and had an oversized walrus clawing and biting at him. "Ack - shit - get away from me - !" He struggled to push the monster off of him, but it was much too strong to push aside, and he could feel its claws starting to dig into his chest even as he tried to keep it at bay. "Ngh - no choice, then - "

He grabbed the monster's flank and snarled, "Agi!" As expected, the Waira caught fire and recoiled, shrieking and thrashing about as the flames quickly spread over its body. Hiro saw that he had no time to celebrate, however - his pants had caught fire as well. "Ahh!" With a horrifed yell, he rolled about the ground, trying to put out the fire, and ignored the pain from his cuts and from ramming into walls or guardrails. An entire minute passed with him rolling on the ground in a blind panic, though the flames had gone out much earlier and only left his pants slightly burnt.

"A-Alright...! We did it!"

Atsuro's voice snapped Hiro out of his panic. Without a word, he jumped to his feet and ran into the alleyway - only to find that Naoya was already gone. He stood perfectly still for a moment, thinking. 'So...we lost him. We almost got ourselves killed again, and all for nothing - '

"Damn it!" Hiro snarled. He turned and kicked the brick wall, which did nothing but further aggravate (and hurt) him, and by the time Atsuro caught up with him he was still hopping on one foot, howling.

"We lost him. Back to square one for us..." He paused to lick one of his cuts.

Yuzu caught up with the two, and gasped when she saw the state they were in. "Wh-What happened to you two? Did you get too close to the demons or something?"

"Hey, it wasn't like I had a choice, the demon got too close to me..."

Yuzu ignored Hiro, and instead laid her hands on Atsuro's chest and said, "Dia." Hiro watched as the spell magically healed his injuries, and remembered that it was the same spell that Moh Shuyuu used on itself when he set it on fire for the first time.

Atsuro spoke as soon as Yuzu finished healing his wounds. "Why'd the demons start showing up? What's with that crazy auction? The questions keep piling up. We need to find him..."

As Yuzu began to work on Hiro's injuries, she snapped, "I'd like to give him a piece of my mind, too! It's his fault we're in trouble!"

"Yeah, I agree," Hiro added. "I mean, the least he could do is tell us what the hell is going on...I think he's avoiding us." As he watched his wounds heal, he breathed a sigh of relief. He also couldn't help but feel that this was kind of nice.

"Why, though?" Atsuro asked.

"How should I know? What I do know is that he could've just waited for us in that alley or something. It's not like he has anything to lose by telling the three of us what's going on, right?"

"Oh, but we shouldn't forget to look for a way out while we're at it!" A few more seconds passed in silence, and Yuzu pulled her hands away from Hiro. "All done."

"Thanks. Anyway, yeah, I agree..."

"Same here. If we don't make it out alive, I'll be missing out on all my favorite net forums!"

Yuzu threw an odd look at Atsuro and sighed. "I guess everyone lives for something..."

"D-Don't give me that look...Hey, Hiro," he turned back to his best friend, "Does the death clock still say zero? It hasn't gone up, has it...?"

Hiro sadly shook his head. "No, it's still zero."

Atsuro sighed. "I had a feeling you'd say that...we can't find a way out, the death clock's stuck on zero, and the hours march on...damn it! What're we supposed to do?"

Suddenly the COMPs' email alerts went off, alerting all three of them.

"Hm? We've got mail..."

"What's it say?"

Atsuro shrugged. "Who knows? Let's check it out!

_From: _

_Subject: Macca Bonus_

_The Macca Bonus increases the amount of Macca earned based on various situations that occur in battle. These are the calculations used to provide bonuses. In the case of a negative result, Macca will not be deducted from your total._

_TECHNICAL: +5% x turns_

_Extra turns you gain plus extra turns the enemies lost._

_NO DAMAGE: +20%_

_Finish a battle without taking damage._

_OVERWHELM: +30%_

_Defeat 3 enemies with a single attack._

_CASUALTY: - 30% x victim_

_An ally dies during the battle._

_SHIELD: +/- 20%_

_An ally Voids, Reflects or Absorbs an attack: +20%_

_If an enemy does: -20%_

_Note: The maximum per battle is 20& or -20%._

_From: _

_Subject: Skill Set Bonus_

_The new Skill Set Bonus function is now available. If certain conditions are met during battle, you will be able to set any command skill already registered on a COMP on a demon. Please note that the key to this function, an energy known as Magnetite, is still relatively unknown and we are continuing to experiment with it._

_[Current Information]_

_Magnetite is believed to be a type of vital energy._

_The Skill Set Bonus involves charging large amounts of Magnetite with the COMP and releasing it to affect your demons' abilities._

_It is believed that Magnetite charges faster if you fight efficiently, the same way Macca Bonus is generated._

"So something called a Skill Set Bonus has been added on top of the Macca Bonus...it's more to worry about in battle, but if we play our cards right, it could pay off.

Hiro nodded, the Macca Bonus function should prove useful for buying stronger demons and the Skill Set Bonus should allow him to strengthen his own demons. "Got it."

Yuzu chimed in, "This is such a guy thing...you better not do anything risky going after this stuff!" She paused and asked, "Y'know, it just occurred to me...who's sending these emails?"

Hiro looked over his own again, it didn't look like it was written by humans to him. "I'm not sure..."

"Yeah, me neither...it doesn't sound at all like Naoya."

"Naoya might not have written them, but the wording and such should be based on his." Atsuro explained. "Like robots with AI personalities...their code is still written by humans. These advice emails might be generated by a program that Naoya created. Like, when you write software for general use, you gotta leave documentation. The emails are so impersonal because they're general documentation...which means this Demon Summoning Program was always meant for third-party use."

"Ah, I see..."

"As long as Naoya didn't program the manual with false info, we can trust what it says."

_Sunset Street, 12:38, August 19th 2012_

Yuzu sighed. "This place is no good either. There were SDF guards all the way to Ikebukuro...I'm exhausted from all this walking...I can feel the sweat pooling in my shoes..."

Atsuro just shrugged. "Better sweaty than dead."

"What the...?" Yuzu turned around to face him, and without looking Hiro could tell that she wasn't happy. "You don't have to say it like that!"

"...Sorry." Atsuro sighed. "I'm getting a little nervous..."

"It's okay. I'm sorry I snapped back. Let's decide what we're going to do from here."

"Yeah, good idea."

Yuzu glanced back at the barricades. Several SDF soldiers were milling about and shooting suspicious glances at passers-by. "Hey...are we really trapped in the Yamanote circle area? Are we going to just die like that email said...?"

"We'll try the east side." Hiro said. Personally, he couldn't stand to see her like that, and in any case he had to keep group morale up - the alternative was to surrender to despair and just wait for the lockdown to end, by which point they could be dead already.

"Yeah..." Atsuro nodded at him. "The west side might be sealed, but there's still the east. Let's keep at it!"

The COMPs' email alerts went off once more. "Incoming email. Let's have a look."

_From: NAOYA_

_Subject: You made it_

_Yo Hiroki, you still alive?_

_The Death Clock calculated by the Laplace mail system may not be absolute, but if the root cause of the events described don't change, it's highly likely that the results will still end up the same...that's fate._

_I've updated your COMP with a new function attached to this message so that you can face fate and cut your own path._

_You should be getting an email describing the 'Skill Crack' function soon._

_I'm looking forward to seeing you again. Keep surviving._

'Next time, don't run away and at least talk to us, would ya?' Hiro thought as he opened up his other email.

_From: _

_Subject: Skill Cracks_

_The Skill Crack is a function that analyzes an enemy's ability and saves it to your COMP._

_[NOTES]_

_The enemy selected must be defeated by the team with the COMP that set it. The crack will be nullified if any other team defeats that enemy._

_Only a single enemy is targeted by the crack, not the entire enemy team._

_The target of the crack and the COMP user who is targeting it can be viewed on the top screen._

Yuzu closed her COMP with a sigh. "I really don't get what Naoya's up to. He got us into this mess, but he's still doing everything he can to help us…"

"You got that right…if he cares that much, he shoulda made sure we weren't in the lockdown to begin with."

"He's hiding something..." Hiro said thoughtfully.

Yuzu nodded. "Yeah, that's for sure."

"Either he can't tell us or the time's not right yet. No way for us to know..."

"Yeah..."

"Hey," Atsuro said, "Those Skill things come in pretty handy, don't they? If that function can get us more of those, that'll be a huge help! It might even increase our chances of survival…!"

"That Skill Crack thing? Only someone who knew about the demons could program that in..." Yuzu pondered. "I wonder just how much Naoya knows about demons."

"Let's ask him ourselves." Hiro had figured a long time ago that the best way to get information out of Naoya was to just ask him directly and hope he answered truthfully.

"Yeah, I guess that'd be the best way, huh?"

"Yeah...let's find Naoya. We need to get information straight from the source."

"Though we have to do something about the number on the death clock first..." Yuzu looked downcast again.

"Yeah. We'll have to use every trick in the book to survive that long..."


End file.
